Wall Street Zen Upgrades NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) to Strong-Buy

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on NTES. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $161.00 price target on NetEase and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NetEase in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Barclays set a $120.00 price target on NetEase and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Zacks Research downgraded NetEase from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Arete Research raised NetEase to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetEase currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.00.

NetEase Price Performance

NetEase stock opened at $151.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.51, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.67. NetEase has a one year low of $75.88 and a one year high of $159.55. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $139.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.82.

NetEase Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 28th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 28th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. NetEase’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.72%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetEase

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTES. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in NetEase by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,297 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $919,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in NetEase by 10,192.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,573 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc acquired a new stake in NetEase during the first quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in NetEase by 191.7% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in NetEase by 13.0% during the first quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 502,115 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $51,678,000 after purchasing an additional 57,895 shares in the last quarter. 11.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.