Barings LLC Has $1.35 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Barings LLC lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,769 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 810 shares during the period. Barings LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,695,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440,229 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,308 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,960,215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.42, for a total value of $453,785.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,035 shares in the company, valued at $18,068,669.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,135 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $535,549.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,753 shares in the company, valued at $4,130,103.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.42, for a total transaction of $453,785.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,035 shares in the company, valued at $18,068,669.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 311,596 shares of company stock valued at $154,788,523 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $518.50.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $11.00 on Thursday, reaching $472.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,317,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,156,778. The firm has a market cap of $1.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $493.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $469.42. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $274.38 and a 52 week high of $542.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.21 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

About Meta Platforms

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.