Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,272,854 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 72,802 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.1% of Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Meta Platforms worth $1,886,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 712.2% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 2,225,186 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,626 shares in the company, valued at $20,360,362. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $740.97, for a total value of $383,081.49. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 7,853 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,818,837.41. This represents a 6.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 152,756 shares of company stock valued at $104,720,878 over the last quarter. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $635.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. TD Securities lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $719.29.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $718.35 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $662.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $631.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $747.90.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Meta Platforms 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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