Rakuten Securities Inc. Buys New Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,100 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,513,000. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.0% of Rakuten Securities Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $66,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.5% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,244,201 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $499,020,000 after acquiring an additional 249,926 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 284.0% in the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $746,000 after acquiring an additional 2,482 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth about $813,000. Finally, Oxford Financial Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.9% in the first quarter. Oxford Financial Group Ltd. now owns 1,888 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $9.96 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $489.80. The stock had a trading volume of 5,826,796 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,992,504. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $207.13 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $493.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $396.01. The firm has a market cap of $1.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.34, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.28.

Insider Activity 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 value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total transaction of $7,513,615.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,439,788 shares of company stock worth $684,542,792 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

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.