NetEase’s (NTES) Equal Weight Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley restated their equal weight rating on shares of NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) in a research note released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $100.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $120.00.

NTES has been the topic of several other reports. StockNews.com lowered NetEase from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. HSBC lowered their price objective on NetEase from $130.00 to $126.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetEase presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $124.13.

NetEase Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTES opened at $90.48 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $58.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.58. NetEase has a 52-week low of $80.79 and a 52-week high of $118.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.83.

NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The technology company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.68 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. NetEase had a return on equity of 24.54% and a net margin of 28.75%. As a group, analysts forecast that NetEase will post 7.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetEase Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.495 per share. This represents a $1.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. NetEase’s payout ratio is presently 66.82%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetEase

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tairen Capital Ltd purchased a new position in NetEase during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $164,307,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of NetEase by 226.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,896,495 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $176,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,410 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD bought a new position in shares of NetEase in the first quarter worth $103,658,000. WT Asset Management Ltd raised its position in shares of NetEase by 381.1% in the fourth quarter. WT Asset Management Ltd now owns 996,686 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $92,851,000 after buying an additional 789,499 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in NetEase by 804.5% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 792,357 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $81,983,000 after buying an additional 704,753 shares during the period. 11.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.