Avanza Fonder AB Acquires Shares of 149,694 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 149,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,647,000. Meta Platforms comprises 2.6% of Avanza Fonder AB’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,662,000 after buying an additional 890,434 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 926.6% in the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $369,774,000 after acquiring an additional 661,923 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total transaction of $520,103.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,612,808.90. The trade was a 2.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,147,531.12. This trade represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $612.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $370.95 and a 12 month high of $638.40. The company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $596.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $556.71.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on META. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

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.