Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 59,775 Shares of NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES)

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its stake in NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) by 96.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,400 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 59,775 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in NetEase were worth $210,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. lifted its stake in NetEase by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. now owns 3,632,870 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $324,088,000 after purchasing an additional 354,273 shares during the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers bought a new stake in shares of NetEase during the 4th quarter worth $53,287,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of NetEase by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 568,454 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $50,712,000 after buying an additional 34,255 shares during the last quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in NetEase in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,563,000. Finally, Todd Asset Management LLC raised its stake in NetEase by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 319,654 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,516,000 after acquiring an additional 4,711 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NTES shares. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of NetEase from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of NetEase from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Barclays increased their price target on NetEase from $82.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on NetEase from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.57.

NetEase Price Performance

NASDAQ NTES opened at $99.35 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.65. NetEase, Inc. has a one year low of $75.85 and a one year high of $110.15.

NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.16 billion. Equities analysts expect that NetEase, Inc. will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NetEase Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.435 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. NetEase’s dividend payout ratio is 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.