Invesco Ltd. Sells 309,755 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Invesco Ltd. lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,268,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 309,755 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.9% of Invesco Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.68% of Meta Platforms worth $10,111,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in 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 buying an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in 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 worth $5,211,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares in 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, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $611.10, for a total value of $21,951,323.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 535,725 shares of company stock worth $356,391,449 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $790.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $504.73 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $648.15 and a 200 day moving average of $610.77. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend 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.