Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 135,180 Shares of NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES - Free Report) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,280,643 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 135,180 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.20% of NetEase worth $114,247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NTES. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position in NetEase by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 194,700 shares of the technology company's stock worth $17,369,000 after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake in shares of NetEase by 274.5% in the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 165,521 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $14,766,000 after buying an additional 121,318 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of NetEase by 40.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,725,046 shares of the technology company's stock worth $332,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,818 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of NetEase by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 715,882 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $63,874,000 after acquiring an additional 73,349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in NetEase by 129.0% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,821 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $519,000 after acquiring an additional 3,279 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 11.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on NTES. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of NetEase from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on NetEase from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on NetEase from $82.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of NetEase from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.67.

NetEase Price Performance

Shares of NTES stock traded up $2.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $109.07. 541,603 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,620,108. NetEase, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.85 and a 52 week high of $110.15. The stock has a market cap of $70.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.65. The stock's 50-day moving average is $100.78 and its 200-day moving average is $94.91.

NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.14. NetEase had a net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.16 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that NetEase, Inc. will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetEase Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were given a $0.435 dividend. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. NetEase's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.45%.

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.