Barings LLC Has $760,000 Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Barings LLC decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 40.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,319 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 905 shares during the quarter. Barings LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Headwater Capital Co Ltd raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $86,454,000 after acquiring an additional 112,000 shares during the last quarter. Generali Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $17,291,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 330.8% during the first quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. now owns 2,154 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,242,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter worth $300,000. Finally, Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the first quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 1,876 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. TD Securities decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $822.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $767.80, for a total value of $11,517,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 222,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $170,608,999. This trade represents a 6.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $768.67, for a total value of $12,181,113.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 275,024 shares of company stock worth $199,983,159. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $7.47 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $769.30. 7,308,601 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,419,927. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.80 and a 52 week high of $784.75. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $714.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $651.01.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.55 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

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.