Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS Buys New Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 5,875 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,361,000. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.5% of Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. HORAN Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. HORAN Wealth LLC now owns 1,115 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $638,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Burling Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Burling Wealth Partners LLC now owns 21,336 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,207,000 after acquiring an additional 2,306 shares during the last quarter. Andra AP fonden increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 126.4% in the first quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 324,901 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $185,886,000 after acquiring an additional 181,412 shares during the period. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 144.0% in the first quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 715 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $409,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the period. Finally, Glenview Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% during the first quarter. Glenview Trust Co now owns 200,354 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $114,629,000 after purchasing an additional 4,382 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $810.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $865.00 to $766.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Wedbush began coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $671.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $835.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total transaction of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,013.06. This represents a 26.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319 over the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

More Meta Platforms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article
• Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $595.19 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $604.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $625.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $520.26 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The firm had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.