Auto Owners Insurance Co Has $18.88 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Auto Owners Insurance Co has significantly decreased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 83%, now holding 32,750 shares valued at approximately $18.88 million.
• Several institutional investors have modified their positions in Meta, with Vestor Capital LLC increasing its holdings by 40.9% during the first quarter.
• Meta reported $6.43 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and noted a 16.1% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.

Auto Owners Insurance Co lowered its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 83.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,750 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 159,700 shares during the quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Csenge Advisory Group increased its position in Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,498,000 after buying an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $99,735,000 after buying an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP increased its position in Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the 4th quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $44,616,000 after buying an additional 43,200 shares in the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JMG Financial Group Ltd. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at about $284,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. The trade was a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 13,793 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.13, for a total transaction of $9,670,686.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 118,279 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,928,955.27. The trade was a 10.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 152,461 shares of company stock valued at $105,335,225 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $801.57.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META traded up $83.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $778.37. 24,533,695 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,531,312. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $450.80 and a 12 month high of $784.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.28. The business's 50-day moving average price is $696.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $643.47.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 39.11% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.16 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.