Ninety One SA PTY Ltd Has $3.08 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 55.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,709 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,122 shares during the quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WoodTrust Financial Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 1,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 4,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 736 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, March 18th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $519.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 35,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,585,110. The transaction 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total transaction of $7,513,615.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,440,278 shares of company stock worth $684,796,490 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $8.04 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $502.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,210,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,013,801. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $493.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $396.70. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a P/E/G 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 business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

About Meta Platforms

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.