Rathbones Group PLC Has $187.81 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Rathbones Group PLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 320,764 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 31,502 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.9% of Rathbones Group PLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $187,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,344,552,000 after buying an additional 424,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892,509 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on META. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $504.73 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $648.15 and a 200-day moving average of $610.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $606.77, for a total transaction of $250,596.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 16,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,125,777.76. This trade represents a 2.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 535,725 shares of company stock valued at $356,391,449. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company 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.