Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Buys New Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 32,595 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $19,085,000. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.9% of Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations' portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of META stock traded down $25.84 on Friday, hitting $576.74. The stock had a trading volume of 17,561,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,238,405. The company's 50 day moving average price is $655.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $609.21. 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 $1.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

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Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company's 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 sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 584,823 shares of company stock worth $386,274,777. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

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.