ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd Has $6.76 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 34.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,539 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 6,028 shares during the period. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.6% in the 3rd 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 currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $657.50 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $648.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $594.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $719.26.

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.

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