Ninety One UK Ltd Sells 41,013 Shares of NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES)

Ninety One UK Ltd lowered its holdings in NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES - Free Report) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,728,407 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 41,013 shares during the period. NetEase comprises about 1.9% of Ninety One UK Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Ninety One UK Ltd owned 1.04% of NetEase worth $626,818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTES. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of NetEase by 451.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 511,454 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $47,647,000 after buying an additional 418,677 shares during the last quarter. WT Asset Management Ltd grew its position in shares of NetEase by 381.1% in the 4th quarter. WT Asset Management Ltd now owns 996,686 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $92,851,000 after acquiring an additional 789,499 shares during the period. FDx Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of NetEase by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. FDx Advisors Inc. now owns 8,352 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $837,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in shares of NetEase during the 3rd quarter worth about $12,017,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of NetEase in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,102,000. 11.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NTES shares. StockNews.com upgraded NetEase from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on NetEase from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetEase has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $126.00.

NetEase Stock Performance

NTES traded up $2.56 on Thursday, reaching $92.50. The company had a trading volume of 2,100,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,758,240. The stock has a market cap of $59.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.58. NetEase, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.79 and a fifty-two week high of $118.89. The company's fifty day moving average is $104.05 and its 200 day moving average is $103.30.

NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $3.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. NetEase had a net margin of 28.39% and a return on equity of 24.36%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that NetEase, Inc. will post 7.04 EPS for the current year.

NetEase Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.67%. This is an increase from NetEase's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetEase's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.09%.

NetEase Company Profile

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.