Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Has $571.34 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 952,593 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,212 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.0% of Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $571,336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $625,125,000 after buying an additional 1,066,437 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $520,662,000 after acquiring an additional 890,434 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total value of $13,830,734.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. 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 report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock traded down $7.49 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $687.35. 9,296,446 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,553,415. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $645.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $589.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.36%.

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.