Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Buys New Shares in NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,796 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in NetEase by 17.2% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 318,550 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,059,000 after buying an additional 46,635 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of NetEase by 12.4% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 327,400 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,876,000 after purchasing an additional 36,000 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetEase by 804.5% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 792,357 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $81,983,000 after purchasing an additional 704,753 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of NetEase in the fourth quarter valued at $964,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of NetEase by 6.3% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 278,802 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,848,000 after purchasing an additional 16,607 shares during the period. 11.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NTES. StockNews.com cut shares of NetEase from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 20th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of NetEase in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. Benchmark increased their target price on shares of NetEase from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of NetEase in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of NetEase from $130.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.86.

NetEase Price Performance

NTES traded up $2.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $92.39. 1,015,408 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,686,397. The company has a market cap of $59.33 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.49. NetEase, Inc. has a one year low of $81.30 and a one year high of $118.89.

NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The technology company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.68 by ($0.05). NetEase had a net margin of 28.75% and a return on equity of 24.19%. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. On average, research analysts expect that NetEase, Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current year.

NetEase Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th were issued a dividend of $0.495 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $1.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. NetEase’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.54%.

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.