Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. Sells 18,450 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 69,780 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 18,450 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.9% of Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $40,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th 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 increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,344,552,000 after buying an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of META opened at $484.66 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $603.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $606.43. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 378,583 shares of company stock worth $259,991,992 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $624.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wedbush cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $681.67.

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.