Aviva PLC Sells 12,094 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Aviva PLC reduced its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,305,823 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 12,094 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.0% of Aviva PLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Aviva PLC owned 0.05% of Meta Platforms worth $764,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 347.9% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 3,310 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,938,000 after buying an additional 2,571 shares during the last quarter. Gladstone Capital Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $76,877,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,604,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 4,889 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,863,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KCM Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,937 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,062,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $504.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $648.15 and its 200 day moving average is $609.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total transaction of $252,797.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,101 shares in the company, valued at $10,467,522.10. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $611.10, for a total value of $21,951,323.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.