Foster Group Inc. Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Foster Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,761 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the quarter. Foster Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $295,901,000 after purchasing an additional 163,067 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,265,862,000 after buying an additional 51,900 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 94.4% in the fourth quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after buying an additional 4,054 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after buying an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voyager Global Management LP lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $182,289,000 after buying an additional 140,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on META. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $501.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $479.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $445.90. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $274.38 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.75, for a total value of $208,369.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,061,678.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.75, for a total value of $208,369.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,061,678.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 313,169 shares of company stock valued at $153,344,736. 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.