Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock Position Lifted by Ninety One SA PTY Ltd

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 55.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,709 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 3,122 shares during the period. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 80.4% in the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock worth $684,796,490 over the last 90 days. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on META. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ META traded up $8.04 on Thursday, reaching $502.21. The stock had a trading volume of 12,210,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,013,801. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $493.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $396.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.42%.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.