ING Groep NV trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 28.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 531,353 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 212,803 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 2.1% of ING Groep NV's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. ING Groep NV's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $306,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,007,308 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $7,030,399,000 after buying an additional 280,357 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $905.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citizens Jmp increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3%
Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $761.83 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $784.75. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $711.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $649.96.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $47.52 billion during 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%. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.16 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 7.60%.
Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms
In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 515 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $776.38, for a total value of $399,835.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 25,035 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,436,673.30. The trade was a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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. Insiders sold 260,024 shares of company stock valued at $188,466,159 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.
About Meta Platforms
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
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