CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Has $1.14 Billion Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 16.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,954,831 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 275,874 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.0% of CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned approximately 0.08% of Meta Platforms worth $1,144,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total value of $489,253.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,096,741.18. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 379,901 shares of company stock valued at $260,806,516 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of META stock traded down $0.83 during trading on Friday, hitting $501.48. 14,540,656 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,827,120. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $608.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $606.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $684.10.

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.