Vanguard Group Inc. Has $110.12 Billion Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. holds a $110.12 billion position in Meta Platforms, making it the company's 5th largest holding, despite a 0.1% reduction in shares during the first quarter.
• A number of analysts have increased their price targets for Meta Platforms, with Bank of America and Citizens Jmp setting targets of $900.00, signaling strong investor confidence.
• Meta Platforms recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, demonstrating a consistent return to shareholders amidst a robust earnings report indicating a revenue increase of 21.6% year-over-year.

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 191,058,533 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 139,472 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.0% of Vanguard Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 7.54% of Meta Platforms worth $110,118,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,539 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,498,000 after buying an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $99,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Skye Global Management LP grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 130.9% during the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $44,616,000 after acquiring an additional 43,200 shares during the last quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the first quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, JMG Financial Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $284,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 22,449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $636.85, for a total value of $14,296,645.65. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $753,393.55. This represents a 94.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 15,847 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $753.43, for a total value of $11,939,605.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 289,356 shares of company stock valued at $211,138,344 in the last ninety days. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of 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. Citizens Jmp upped 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. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $860.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Four investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $822.41.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.0%

META traded down $7.54 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $782.46. 4,840,212 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,365,869. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $795.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.33, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.27. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $718.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $653.09.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The social networking company reported $7.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.75 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $47.52 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.16 EPS. As a group, 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.60%.

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.