Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 32,423 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.0% of Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $159,841,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,011,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,733,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $4,223,148,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,906,009,000 after acquiring an additional 946,871 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $500.64 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $493.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $396.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $207.13 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total transaction of $7,513,615.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total value of $3,500,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,086,721.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total transaction of $7,513,615.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock valued at $684,796,490. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Raymond James raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $518.15.

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.