National Pension Service Purchases 176,627 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• The National Pension Service increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. by 4.2% during the first quarter, now owning approximately 4.4 million shares, valued at around $2.54 billion.
• Several institutional investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC and Nuveen LLC, significantly increased their holdings in Meta, with GAMMA's stake rising by 67,172.9%.
• Research analysts have recently adjusted their price targets for Meta, with a consensus price target of $822.41 and multiple firms giving the stock a "buy" or "overweight" rating.

National Pension Service increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,406,766 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 176,627 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.4% of National Pension Service's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.17% of Meta Platforms worth $2,539,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 6.4% in the first quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 4,914 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,832,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn FI LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.2% in the first quarter. Brooklyn FI LLC now owns 577 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.6% in the first quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management now owns 7,624 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,394,000 after buying an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.0% in the first quarter. SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co now owns 10,449 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $6,022,000 after buying an additional 2,154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dagco Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 41.4% in the first quarter. Dagco Inc. now owns 1,322 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $762,000 after buying an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 515 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $776.38, for a total transaction of $399,835.70. Following the sale, the insider owned 25,035 shares in the company, valued at $19,436,673.30. This represents a 2.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,037 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.18, for a total value of $814,231.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 269,243 shares of company stock worth $200,605,051. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $3.10 on Friday, reaching $785.23. 13,361,371 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,931,265. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.43, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $724.43 and a 200 day moving average of $655.43.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.33% and a net margin of 39.99%. The company had revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. The business's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on META shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $890.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $822.41.

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.