Brandes Investment Partners LP Increases Position in NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES)

Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its holdings in NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 24,808 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,627 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in NetEase were worth $2,213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. WT Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in NetEase in the fourth quarter worth about $2,624,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in NetEase in the fourth quarter worth about $654,000. APEIRON CAPITAL Ltd grew its holdings in NetEase by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. APEIRON CAPITAL Ltd now owns 129,321 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,537,000 after purchasing an additional 22,000 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetEase by 7.8% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,145,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $107,130,000 after buying an additional 82,474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetEase during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,817,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.07% of the company’s stock.

NetEase Trading Down 0.7 %

NTES opened at $102.80 on Friday. NetEase, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.85 and a 1-year high of $110.15. The company has a market capitalization of $66.01 billion, a PE ratio of 16.14, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.19.

NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.14. NetEase had a net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.16 billion. Equities analysts forecast that NetEase, Inc. will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetEase Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.435 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. NetEase’s payout ratio is presently 76.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of NetEase from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of NetEase from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of NetEase from $82.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of NetEase from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of NetEase from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetEase currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.57.

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.