Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Position Lifted by Intact Investment Management Inc.

Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,477,463 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $877,798,000 after purchasing an additional 9,475 shares during the period. Aubrey Capital Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $2,655,000. White Pine Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 1,413 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the period. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $216,000. Finally, Parametrica Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Parametrica Management Ltd now owns 34,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $12,355,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559 over the last ninety days. 13.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded up $1.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $443.29. 32,645,619 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,233,678. The company has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $229.85 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $494.48 and its 200 day moving average is $404.85.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

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.