Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 49.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 265,155 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 87,467 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.1% of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $175,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $22,152,075,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 86,925,674 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $64,158,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,650,435 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $1,191,175,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,874,837 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,818,731,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,496 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $725.00 price objective (down from $825.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.60.

Key Stories Impacting Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding its AI infrastructure globally, including a new AI-enabled data center partnership in India with Reliance Industries, reinforcing confidence in its long-term artificial intelligence strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company launched Instagram Plus globally, an optional subscription product that could help diversify revenue beyond advertising.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentary from Morgan Stanley, Zacks, and others continued to describe Meta as a high-quality growth and compounder stock, with recent earnings still viewed as strong.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total value of $1,268,023.68. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,118 shares in the company, valued at $681,890.56. This trade represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 504 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.29, for a total transaction of $317,162.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,943 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,481,290.47. This represents a 11.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 41,305 shares of company stock worth $25,567,928 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ META opened at $566.98 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $621.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $635.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.