Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Mather Group LLC.

Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,922 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,593 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,011,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,733,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,906,009,000 after acquiring an additional 946,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,143,462 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,945,799,000 after buying an additional 111,735 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Barclays dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $545.00 price objective (down from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.18.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,277,048 shares of company stock worth $620,679,759 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of META stock traded down $7.07 during trading on Monday, reaching $436.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,052,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,230,281. The company has a market cap of $1.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $229.85 and a one year high of $531.49. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $494.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $405.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.