Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Acquires 1,489 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,134 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.9% of Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.'s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $31,695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the third 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total transaction of $1,387,085.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,103 shares in the company, valued at $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 585,605 shares of company stock valued at $386,710,448. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $15.33 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $610.98. The company had a trading volume of 12,592,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,819,907. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day moving average of $656.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $608.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its 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 previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms 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.