Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,309,806 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 490,577 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.4% of Schroder Investment Management Group's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Schroder Investment Management Group owned about 0.17% of Meta Platforms worth $2,523,435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $718.55.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Price Performance
META traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $576.36. 21,103,853 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,265,824. The business's 50-day moving average price is $655.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $609.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. 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 (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is presently 8.78%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 584,410 shares of company stock worth $386,031,454. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Meta Platforms Profile
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Free Report)
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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