Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Sold by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,731,325 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 21,475 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.8% of Korea Investment CORP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Korea Investment CORP owned approximately 0.07% of Meta Platforms worth $1,277,874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $142,149,566,000 after buying an additional 1,532,568 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 608,429.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 59,775,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $44,119,937,000 after acquiring an additional 59,766,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,575,209 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $37,902,948,000 after acquiring an additional 682,768 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,669,795 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,184,163,000 after acquiring an additional 400,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,575,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,977,361,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,546 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.35, for a total value of $365,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,476,894.45. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 11,690 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.31, for a total value of $6,935,793.90. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,432,843.65. The trade was a 82.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,671,107 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $673.42 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $479.80 and a 12 month high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $673.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $706.04. The company has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.74, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $51.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.34 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 30.89% and a return on equity of 39.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.03 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on META. BNP Paribas began coverage on Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. Arete upgraded Meta Platforms from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $718.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $837.00 to $802.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $915.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $819.43.

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.