Meta Platforms, Inc. $META is Groupe la Francaise’s 6th Largest Position

Groupe la Francaise boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 29.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 260,515 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 58,724 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 3.1% of Groupe la Francaise’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $191,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 59,766,000 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $23,155,393,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 73,443.1% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,417,003 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,212,506,000 after buying an additional 8,405,558 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,990,544,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 192,591,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $142,149,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,568 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $656.96 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $670.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $707.44. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $479.80 and a 1 year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.03 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.60, for a total transaction of $429,501.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,570,306. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $642.22, for a total transaction of $333,312.18. Following the sale, the insider owned 30,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,737,989.48. This trade represents a 1.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 40,923 shares of company stock valued at $25,887,293. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $810.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Meta Platforms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $837.00 to $802.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $920.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $821.63.

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.