Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Ninety One UK Ltd

Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 220.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,041,131 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 715,918 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.1% of Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $368,519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,011,920,000 after buying an additional 1,733,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $4,223,148,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,906,009,000 after buying an additional 946,871 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $10.14 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $504.31. 10,326,390 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,985,570. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $207.13 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $493.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $396.70.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total value of $217,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 35,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,585,110. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.75, for a total transaction of $253,697.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,924,027.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 35,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,585,110. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock valued at $684,796,490. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

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.