Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 20.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 69,780 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 18,450 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.9% of Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $40,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after buying an additional 424,201 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $676.55.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total value of $453,012.27. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,525,441.26. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 308,068 shares of company stock worth $214,968,924 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.6 %

META traded up $14.12 on Friday, hitting $547.27. 17,064,639 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,720,244. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $590.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $604.75. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 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 period last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. 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.