Plato Investment Management Ltd Acquires 1,038 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,696 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,038 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 2.4% of Plato Investment Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $29,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in 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 buying an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.5% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 34,597,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,799,612,000 after acquiring an additional 4,379,826 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $595,152,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 187,180,393 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $90,891,055,000 after acquiring an additional 831,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Meta Platforms by 30.0% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,411,009 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,656,318,000 after purchasing an additional 788,131 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company 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 assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 33,018 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $517.94, for a total value of $17,101,342.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $50,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 158,200 shares of company stock valued at $84,533,106 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $554.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business’s 50 day moving average is $568.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $520.60. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $313.66 and a 52-week high of $602.95.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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