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

NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the five brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $126.00.

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

Institutional Trading of NetEase

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 98,751 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of NetEase by 226.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,315,410 shares during the last quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of NetEase during the 4th quarter valued at $164,307,000. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings 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 valued at $146,486,000 after purchasing an additional 664,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $143,563,000 after purchasing an additional 738,249 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.07% of the company’s stock.

NetEase Stock Performance

NTES opened at $97.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap 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. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $105.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.51. NetEase has a one year low of $80.79 and a one year high of $118.89.

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

NetEase Increases Dividend

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