Generali Investments Management Co LLC Makes New $22.43 Million Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Generali Investments Management Co LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 38,315 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,434,000. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 5.8% of Generali Investments Management Co LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $70,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

META opened at $596.25 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a fifty day moving average of $655.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $605.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.93, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on META shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total transaction of $545,235.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,375,535.40. The trade was a 2.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. This represents a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 622,844 shares of company stock valued at $409,212,161. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.