Pinebridge Investments L.P. Has $279.09 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 476,667 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,034 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.1% of Pinebridge Investments L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Pinebridge Investments L.P.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $279,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Quantessence Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $10,386,000. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $468,000. Alta Advisers Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 7,280 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aldebaran Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 3,083 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,823,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.59, for a total transaction of $259,194.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,954,832.58. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 342,662 shares of company stock worth $237,476,709. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on META shares. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $681.67.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $500.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $598.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $605.69.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.