E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 7,567 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 24.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 38,713 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,567 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.1% of E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $22,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 4,126,190 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $2,243,603,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066,437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 890,434 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $657.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $601.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, 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 transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total value of $22,351,483.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 725,081 shares of company stock valued at $472,702,625. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. DA Davidson upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

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.