Axa S.A. Purchases 8,374 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Axa S.A. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 719,213 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,374 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.3% of Axa S.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $421,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $597.02 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $575.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $603.62. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Securities reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $696.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 237,017 shares of company stock valued at $167,207,524 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.