AIA Group Ltd Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

AIA Group Ltd grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,014 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,370 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.3% of AIA Group Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. AIA Group Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $54,461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on META. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $718.55.

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Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total value of $252,797.30. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,467,522.10. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.98, for a total value of $21,695,565.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 583,505 shares of company stock valued at $385,495,911. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $9.64 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $586.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,803,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,260,185. The company has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $654.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $610.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 last year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.