LGT Group Foundation Buys 3,990 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LGT Group Foundation boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 133,707 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,990 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.2% of LGT Group Foundation’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $78,287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $459,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the period. Finally, LS Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on META. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $625.66 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $656.91 and a 200-day moving average of $600.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.16, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction 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, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 775,295 shares of company stock valued at $504,237,715 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.