Korea Investment CORP Has $1.28 Billion Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Korea Investment CORP lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,731,325 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 21,475 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.8% of Korea Investment CORP’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,277,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 237.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $42,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Maseco LLP acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, eCIO Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $58,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,432,843.65. This represents a 82.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,610 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.46, for a total value of $1,590,690.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 9,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,962,956.64. This represents a 21.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,671,107 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $673.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $479.80 and a 1-year high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $673.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $706.04.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The firm had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $920.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,117.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $905.00 to $875.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $819.43.

Meta Platforms Company 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.