Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 26th

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of 0.19 per share by the game software company on Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th.

Electronic Arts has raised its dividend by an average of 3.8% annually over the last three years. Electronic Arts has a dividend payout ratio of 8.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Electronic Arts to earn $5.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.6%.

Electronic Arts Stock Up 0.7 %

Electronic Arts stock opened at $130.93 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $137.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Electronic Arts has a 1-year low of $115.21 and a 1-year high of $168.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The game software company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.41 by ($1.07). Electronic Arts had a net margin of 14.28% and a return on equity of 17.80%. On average, analysts predict that Electronic Arts will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EA shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Electronic Arts from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $173.00 price target on shares of Electronic Arts in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Roth Mkm reduced their price target on shares of Electronic Arts from $158.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Electronic Arts from $130.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.27, for a total transaction of $234,405.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 24,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,888,935.22. This represents a 5.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vijayanthimala Singh sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.03, for a total transaction of $122,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 28,216 shares in the company, valued at $3,443,198.48. This represents a 3.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,500 shares of company stock worth $3,593,095 in the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc develops, markets, publishes, and distributes games, content, and services for game consoles, PCs, mobile phones, and tablets worldwide. It develops and publishes games and services across various genres, such as sports, racing, first-person shooter, action, role-playing, and simulation primarily under the Battlefield, The Sims, Apex Legends, Need for Speed, and license games from others, including FIFA, Madden NFL, UFC, and Star Wars brands.