Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Grows Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,950 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,727,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. VeraBank N.A. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LGL Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. LGL Partners LLC now owns 2,834 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,659,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.96, for a total transaction of $409,767.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,837,841.52. This represents a 6.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 797,320 shares of company stock worth $517,913,331. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $656.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $655.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $599.11.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. 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 dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.