Capital World Investors Has $23.61 Billion Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.6% of Capital World Investors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Capital World Investors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $23,606,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $559,290.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,200 shares in the company, valued at $18,663,600. This trade represents a 2.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 379,901 shares of company stock worth $260,806,516 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $684.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $501.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $608.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $606.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

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.