The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires 55,345 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,731,078 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,345 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.9% of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,013,590,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 285,289 shares of company stock valued at $200,201,352 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $547.27 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $427.11 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $587.00 and a 200 day moving average of $604.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on META. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $628.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $679.02.

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.