Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Reduces Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd reduced its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 89,854 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,537 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.1% of Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $45,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 527.3% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the second quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,054 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.05, for a total value of $1,029,156.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,000 shares in the company, valued at $126,765,650. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.05, for a total transaction of $1,029,156.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,765,650. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 357,574 shares of company stock valued at $185,587,773 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. DA Davidson started coverage on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $577.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $533.28 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $505.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $495.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $279.40 and a 1-year high of $544.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $39.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

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.