Capital International Inc. CA Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Capital International Inc. CA lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 372,075 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,496 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.6% of Capital International Inc. CA’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Capital International Inc. CA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $217,854,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after buying an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,908,382,000 after buying an additional 110,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $501.48 on Friday. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $608.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $606.80. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, 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 data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued 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 MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $684.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total transaction of $559,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,663,600. This represents a 2.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 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 value of $255,234.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 16,275 shares in the company, valued at $10,057,950. This trade represents a 2.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 379,901 shares of company stock worth $260,806,516. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.