Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's 5th Largest Position

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 319,450 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,821 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.9% of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $184,118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Valley Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC raised Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $664.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, Roth Capital boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 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-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $719.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $737.00, for a total transaction of $382,503.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,626 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,360,362. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total value of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 154,285 shares of company stock worth $105,518,153 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.61% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $716.91 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $658.89 and a 200 day moving average of $630.04. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $747.90. The firm has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. 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 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

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.

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