Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Sells 17,000 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lessened its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 439,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 17,000 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.6% of Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $257,506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $61,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.5 %

META stock opened at $668.20 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $653.18 and a 200-day moving average of $596.59. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. 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, topping 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 business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $665.75, for a total transaction of $613,155.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,212,039.50. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 813,951 shares of company stock worth $526,565,232 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

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.