MetLife Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 673,831 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,813 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.1% of MetLife Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $394,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $19,949,512,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $684.10.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total transaction of $255,234.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 16,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,057,950. The trade was a 2.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 379,901 shares of company stock valued at $260,806,516 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $501.48 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $608.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $606.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.