Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Boosted by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 370,996 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,917 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $131,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $4,223,148,000. Morgan Stanley bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $4,072,543,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $1,796,633,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $1,731,491,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock worth $684,796,490. 13.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $14.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $508.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,073,720 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,944,693. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $207.13 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The firm has a market cap of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $493.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $396.70.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on META shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.53.

Meta Platforms 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.