Ally Financial Inc. Makes New $9.95 Million Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ally Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 17,000 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $9,954,000. Meta Platforms comprises 1.2% of Ally Financial Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $255,234.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 16,275 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,057,950. This represents a 2.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $559,290.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,200 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,663,600. This represents a 2.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 379,901 shares of company stock valued at $260,806,516 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $501.48. The stock had a trading volume of 14,540,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,827,120. 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, 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $608.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $606.80.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given 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 currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $684.10.

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.