Rakuten Securities Inc. Acquires 93 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,307 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.5% of Rakuten Securities Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 67,172.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,452,665 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,517,178,000 after purchasing an additional 23,417,803 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on META. Benchmark cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $710.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,608 shares in the company, valued at $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 8,312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.13, for a total value of $5,836,104.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 88,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,048,632.36. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,512 shares of company stock valued at $73,590,232 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ META opened at $695.77 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $612.33 and a 200 day moving average of $621.89. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 2.66. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 39.11%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

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.