Wright Investors Service Inc. Grows Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wright Investors Service Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,451 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 2,637 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.9% of Wright Investors Service Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,011,920,000 after buying an additional 1,733,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,223,148,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,906,009,000 after acquiring an additional 946,871 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $17.28 during trading on Thursday, reaching $511.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,233,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,931,227. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $493.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $396.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $207.13 and a one year high of $531.49.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. 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 is presently 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.75, for a total transaction of $253,697.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,924,027.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.75, for a total value of $253,697.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,924,027.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock worth $684,796,490. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wolfe Research upped 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $519.53.

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.