Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys New Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 647,406 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,349,000. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.3% of Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 424,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 5.1 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $504.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $648.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $609.75. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. This is an increase 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total transaction of $525,577.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at $17,268,742.26. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total value of $342,322.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,230 shares in the company, valued at $3,507,676.90. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company 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.