Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Holdings Increased by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,477,463 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 9,475 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.6% of Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $877,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. FMR LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Meta Platforms by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,632,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,591,602,000 after purchasing an additional 3,093,715 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1,457.5% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,156,360 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,117,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $834,315,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. 13.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of META traded up $1.91 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $443.29. 32,645,619 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,233,678. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $229.85 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $494.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $404.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

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.