NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) Shares Sold by West Family Investments Inc.

West Family Investments Inc. cut its position in NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,969 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 248 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in NetEase were worth $277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in NetEase by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,950 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in NetEase by 301.6% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,749 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,467,000 after purchasing an additional 11,827 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its position in NetEase by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 2,764 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in NetEase by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,223 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $487,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in NetEase by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 11.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NTES. HSBC lowered their price target on NetEase from $130.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on NetEase from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded NetEase from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetEase has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $126.00.

NetEase Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTES traded up $4.58 during trading on Thursday, reaching $98.60. 823,838 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,684,372. The stock has a market cap of $63.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $101.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.69. NetEase, Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.79 and a 1 year high of $118.89.

NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.62 by ($0.20). NetEase had a net margin of 28.39% and a return on equity of 24.36%. The firm had revenue of $3.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. Research analysts forecast that NetEase, Inc. will post 7.04 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $1.08 dividend. This is an increase from NetEase’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. NetEase’s payout ratio is presently 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.