NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) Declares $0.44 Quarterly Dividend

NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.435 per share by the technology company on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th.

NetEase has increased its dividend payment by an average of 43.6% annually over the last three years. NetEase has a payout ratio of 21.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect NetEase to earn $6.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.74 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.2%.

NetEase Trading Up 1.8 %

NTES stock traded up $1.79 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $103.21. 1,133,517 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,349,600. NetEase has a 52-week low of $75.85 and a 52-week high of $114.50. The stock has a market cap of $66.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $97.61 and its 200 day moving average is $89.64.

NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.14. NetEase had a net margin of 26.02% and a return on equity of 20.82%. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.16 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that NetEase will post 6.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTES has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetEase from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of NetEase from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of NetEase from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. 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 report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Benchmark increased their target price on shares of NetEase from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetEase currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.43.

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.