NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) has been given an average rating of “Buy” by the five ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $126.00.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded NetEase from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetEase

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTES. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of NetEase by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,333,468 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $242,110,000 after acquiring an additional 98,751 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in NetEase by 226.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,896,495 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $176,677,000 after buying an additional 1,315,410 shares during the last quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of NetEase during the 4th quarter worth approximately $164,307,000. FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of NetEase by 73.2% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,572,418 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $146,486,000 after purchasing an additional 664,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NetEase by 98.9% during the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,484,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $143,563,000 after purchasing an additional 738,249 shares in the last quarter. 11.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetEase Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of NTES stock opened at $97.15 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.51. NetEase has a 1-year low of $80.79 and a 1-year high of $118.89. The company has a market capitalization of $62.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.58.

NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.20). NetEase had a return on equity of 24.36% and a net margin of 28.39%. The company had revenue of $3.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NetEase will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

NetEase Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a boost from NetEase’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.45%. NetEase’s payout ratio is 68.09%.

About NetEase

NetEase, Inc engages in online games, music streaming, online intelligent learning services, and internet content services businesses in China and internationally . The company operates through Games and Related Value-Added Services, Youdao, Cloud Music, and Innovative Businesses and Others segments.