Alberta Investment Management Corp Has $106.32 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Alberta Investment Management Corp lessened its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 16.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 181,584 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 35,300 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.7% of Alberta Investment Management Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Alberta Investment Management Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $106,319,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,565,134 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,758,146,000 after buying an additional 289,207 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $657.50 on Wednesday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $648.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $594.06. The company has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total value of $238,503.37. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $538,475.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,535 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,738,325. The trade was a 2.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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