Ninety One UK Ltd Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 220.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,041,131 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 715,918 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.1% of Ninety One UK Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $368,519,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Strid Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 370,996 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $131,318,000 after acquiring an additional 19,917 shares during the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 29,451 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,424,000 after acquiring an additional 2,637 shares during the last quarter. WestHill Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $248,000. Finally, Peterson Wealth Services grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 960 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock valued at $684,796,490 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $10.14 during trading on Thursday, hitting $504.31. 10,326,390 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,985,570. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $207.13 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $493.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $396.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.00 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $519.53.

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.