Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Has $519.92 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 90.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,070,719 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 509,954 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.7% of Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $519,919,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $181,000. Single Point Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Single Point Partners LLC now owns 1,147 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $406,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 112,851 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,945,000 after buying an additional 2,692 shares during the last quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $15,782,000. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $437,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total transaction of $1,007,350.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 318,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,759,417.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,272,152.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,011 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.92, for a total transaction of $1,007,350.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,759,417.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 311,106 shares of company stock valued at $154,542,945. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded up $0.94 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $476.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,126,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,261,452. The business has a fifty day moving average of $493.39 and a 200-day moving average of $469.46. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $274.38 and a twelve month 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.21 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 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.