Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Boosted by Welch Group LLC

Welch Group LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 414.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,858 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 10,357 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,244,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $11,285,855,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after acquiring an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 30,217,175 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,695,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,440,229 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 111.0% during the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 7,391,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 186,349,346 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $65,960,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,104,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.05.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total transaction of $194,752.40. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,268,235.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.34, for a total transaction of $8,406,784.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 275,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $138,567,991.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 412 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $472.70, for a total transaction of $194,752.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,376 shares in the company, valued at $7,268,235.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 313,169 shares of company stock valued at $153,344,736 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $501.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $479.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $445.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $274.38 and a 52-week high of $531.49.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

About Meta Platforms

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.