Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Acquires 74,746 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,426,012 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 74,746 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.0% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.06% of Meta Platforms worth $834,944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $70,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total transaction of $243,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,576,930. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 622,844 shares of company stock valued at $409,212,161. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $10.25 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $596.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 24,988,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,804,408. The company has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, 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 $655.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $605.74. 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 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 previous year, the company 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.