Citigroup Inc. Boosts Stake in NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES)

Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) by 6.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,349 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,240 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in NetEase were worth $4,708,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NTES. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of NetEase by 6.5% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,692,705 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $161,789,000 after buying an additional 103,102 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake in NetEase by 109.0% during the second quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 1,213,323 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $115,969,000 after acquiring an additional 632,896 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of NetEase by 65.8% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 772,242 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $73,811,000 after acquiring an additional 306,500 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of NetEase by 18.7% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 724,900 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $69,286,000 after buying an additional 114,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of NetEase by 12.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 666,411 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,316,000 after purchasing an additional 72,988 shares during the period. 11.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on NTES. Barclays cut their price target on NetEase from $104.00 to $82.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com raised NetEase from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on NetEase from $126.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Benchmark decreased their price objective on NetEase from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on NetEase from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.29.

NetEase Stock Up 1.6 %

NTES opened at $88.87 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $85.61 and its 200-day moving average is $88.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.57. NetEase, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.85 and a 52-week high of $114.50.

NetEase Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.435 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. NetEase’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.22%.

NetEase 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.