M&G Plc Takes $244.88 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 503,874 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,883,000. Meta Platforms makes up 1.5% of M&G Plc’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 527.3% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 95.6% in the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 88 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 92 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their target price 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $7,272,152.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $7,272,152.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.95, for a total transaction of $483,224.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,724,113. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 311,106 shares of company stock worth $154,542,945 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2 %

META traded up $0.94 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $476.79. 15,149,416 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,694,282. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $274.38 and a 1-year high of $542.81. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $493.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $470.32. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.39, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 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.