Geode Capital Management LLC Has $28.72 Billion Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.2% of Geode Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 1.94% of Meta Platforms worth $28,719,970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.98, for a total transaction of $21,695,565.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 583,505 shares of company stock valued at $385,495,911. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $576.36 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $654.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $610.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.55.

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.