KBC Group NV Has $1.13 Billion Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

KBC Group NV grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,976,357 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 280,266 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.4% of KBC Group NV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,131,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 221.9% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.38, for a total transaction of $478,183.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 40,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,298.16. This trade represents a 2.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 141,498 shares of company stock valued at $75,732,154. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on META. Oppenheimer raised their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $570.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $554.08 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $313.66 and a one year high of $602.95. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $568.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $521.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.