Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Acquires Shares of 32,180 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 32,180 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,842,000. Meta Platforms comprises 2.4% of Mufg Securities Americas Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. TD Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $656.03 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.43, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $569.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $605.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 99,324 shares of company stock valued at $68,637,452. Corporate insiders own 13.71% 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.