Sarasin & Partners LLP Has $370.61 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sarasin & Partners LLP reduced its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 19.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 643,015 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 153,198 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 3.9% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $370,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Benchmark cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.48.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $702.40 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $593.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $617.09. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.25, for a total value of $298,418.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,272 shares in the company, valued at $6,453,384. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total value of $369,360.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,523,445. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,104 shares of company stock worth $35,270,242 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.