Fred Alger Management LLC Has $1.09 Billion Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fred Alger Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,864,884 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 36,189 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 5.2% of Fred Alger Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Fred Alger Management LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Meta Platforms worth $1,091,908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of META traded down $5.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $592.49. 10,401,916 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,450,792. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $568.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $604.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total value of $643,414.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 155,689 shares of company stock worth $109,097,842 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is 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.