Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd

Key Points

• Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its Meta stake by 49.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 87,467 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 265,155 shares worth about $175 million.
• Meta continues to draw support from analysts and institutions, with several firms raising price targets and the stock maintaining a Moderate Buy consensus rating and $840.60 average target price.
• The company reported strong recent fundamentals, including Q1 earnings of $10.44 per share versus $6.67 expected and revenue growth of 33.1% year over year, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share.

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 49.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 265,155 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 87,467 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.1% of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $175,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. First National Bank Sioux Falls lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 2,001 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,321,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 984 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,075 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $794,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Arcataur Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Arcataur Capital Management LLC now owns 1,736 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,146,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Acorn Creek Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 2,118 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,398,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding its AI infrastructure globally, including a new AI-enabled data center partnership in India with Reliance Industries, reinforcing confidence in its long-term artificial intelligence strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company launched Instagram Plus globally, an optional subscription product that could help diversify revenue beyond advertising.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentary from Morgan Stanley, Zacks, and others continued to describe Meta as a high-quality growth and compounder stock, with recent earnings still viewed as strong.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on META shares. Barclays raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $935.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $760.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Susquehanna raised Meta Platforms from a "positive" rating to a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $840.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total value of $1,748,612.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 10,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 9,195 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.84, for a total transaction of $5,589,088.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,978.24. This represents a 41.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,305 shares of company stock worth $25,567,928. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $566.98 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $621.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $635.89. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.43 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc NASDAQ: META, formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta's core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.

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