Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Boosted by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 2.9% of Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,716 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 773 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Enclave Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Enclave Advisors LLC now owns 3,358 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,966,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares in the last quarter. Wall Street Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Wall Street Financial Group Inc. now owns 583 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 65,925 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $38,600,000 after buying an additional 4,122 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $559,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,663,600. This represents a 2.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $647.49 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $601.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $560.12. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $385.66 and a 52-week high of $652.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $654.20.

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.