Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Acquires 1,868 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,268 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,868 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $14,795,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $659.88 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a fifty day moving average of $604.04 and a 200-day moving average of $561.55. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $387.10 and a 52-week high of $663.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total transaction of $10,320,386.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,769 shares in the company, valued at $25,888,979.95. The trade was a 28.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 603,032 shares of company stock valued at $368,666,614. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.20.

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.