Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Increased by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,068,424 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 186,219 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.6% of ING Groep NV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $611,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after purchasing an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,299,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,597,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,799,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,379,826 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,497,335 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,582,876,000 after purchasing an additional 342,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $507.63, for a total transaction of $459,405.15. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,817 shares in the company, valued at $19,197,043.71. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 16,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $533.24, for a total transaction of $8,906,174.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 28,838 shares in the company, valued at $15,377,575.12. This represents a 36.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 141,498 shares of company stock worth $75,732,154 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.10.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of META opened at $554.08 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $313.66 and a twelve month high of $602.95. The company has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $568.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $521.17.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.