ESG Planning Grows Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

ESG Planning raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,487 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.9% of ESG Planning’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. ESG Planning’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HF Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,307 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 77,397 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,395,000 after purchasing an additional 11,443 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 223,612 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $79,150,000 after purchasing an additional 56,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 467 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $165,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.0 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $14.67 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $508.84. The company had a trading volume of 4,631,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,902,320. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $493.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $396.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17, a P/E/G 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.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock valued at $684,796,490. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on META. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $518.15.

Meta Platforms 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.