OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 227.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 407,817 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 283,253 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.1% of OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $238,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 7.9%

NASDAQ:META opened at $639.43 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company's 50 day moving average is $568.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $605.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The company 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%. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at $209,199,589.06. This trade represents a 6.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total value of $677,920.47. Following the sale, the insider now owns 35,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,341,737.09. The trade was a 2.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 118,992 shares of company stock valued at $82,831,650. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

About Meta Platforms

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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