Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Purchases 114,712 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,185,193 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 114,712 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.6% of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.24% of Meta Platforms worth $2,189,311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $511.90 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $207.13 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $491.44 and a 200 day moving average of $393.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $364.99, for a total transaction of $7,183,368.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,460,035 shares of company stock worth $691,937,607 in the last ninety days. 14.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $440.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $385.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $502.75.

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.