Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Acquires 1,607 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 60,815 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,607 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.4% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,223,148,000. Morgan Stanley bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $4,072,543,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $1,796,633,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $1,731,491,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of META traded down $18.27 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $483.53. 14,609,349 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,013,885. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $207.13 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $494.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $397.43. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Wedbush increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Guggenheim raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total transaction of $7,722,037.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total transaction of $7,722,037.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total value of $217,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,585,110. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock worth $677,574,550. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

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.