Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Holdings Decreased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,345,656 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 22,705 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.1% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.13% of Meta Platforms worth $1,958,915,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 809,804 shares of company stock valued at $523,576,440 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $683.62 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $647.09 and a 200 day moving average of $591.96. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. 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.