IFM Investors Pty Ltd Purchases 37,547 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 443,644 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 37,547 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.5% of IFM Investors Pty Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $253,960,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after buying an additional 23,417,803 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 712.2% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,537,631 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,462,589,000 after buying an additional 2,225,186 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock traded down $5.54 during trading on Thursday, reaching $727.24. The company had a trading volume of 9,905,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,503,230. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $672.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $633.41. The company has a market cap of $1.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $747.90.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Meta Platforms from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Moffett Nathanson upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $727.95.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $721.57, for a total transaction of $374,494.83. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,107 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,559,597.99. This represents a 1.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,361 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.48, for a total transaction of $1,691,609.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 153,792 shares of company stock valued at $105,466,325 over the last 90 days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.