Korea Investment CORP Reduces Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Korea Investment CORP reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,712,207 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 40,638 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.4% of Korea Investment CORP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,002,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hardin Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Hardin Capital Partners LLC now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Cottage Street Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Cottage Street Advisors LLC now owns 2,190 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,282,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 4,816 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,820,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 222,968 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $130,550,000 after purchasing an additional 7,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviso Wealth Management increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 14,177 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,301,000 after buying an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $602.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $655.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $607.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’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 owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 584,823 shares of company stock worth $386,274,777 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.