NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) Short Interest Update

NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,490,000 shares, a drop of 17.5% from the January 31st total of 4,230,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Approximately 0.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of NetEase by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 444 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in NetEase by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 7,190 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $641,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in NetEase by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,297 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $919,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetEase by 81.7% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of NetEase by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,729 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,305,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on NTES shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on NetEase from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of NetEase from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of NetEase from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of NetEase from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their target price on NetEase from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.57.

NetEase Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTES traded up $2.56 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $103.16. 1,669,866 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,554,261. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.19, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.28. NetEase has a twelve month low of $75.85 and a twelve month high of $111.12.

NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.14. NetEase had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 28.17%. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.16 billion. On average, research analysts expect that NetEase will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NetEase Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.435 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. NetEase’s payout ratio is currently 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.