Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Has $837.77 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,269,176 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 176,003 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.4% of Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned 0.05% of Meta Platforms worth $837,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,230,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 294.7% in the first quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $86,454,000 after purchasing an additional 112,000 shares during the last quarter. Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, Capital & Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at about $322,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $840.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush raised Meta Platforms from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $805.00 to $780.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $765.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $840.60.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $566.98 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $520.26 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $621.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $636.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business had revenue of $56.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 7,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.83, for a total transaction of $4,769,642.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 414 shares in the company, valued at $251,641.62. This trade represents a 94.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Curtis J. Mahoney sold 2,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.92, for a total transaction of $1,268,023.68. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $681,890.56. This represents a 65.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 39,170 shares of company stock worth $24,218,565 in the last three months. 13.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Meta Platforms

Here are the key news stories impacting Meta Platforms this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Meta is expanding its AI infrastructure globally, including a new AI-enabled data center partnership in India with Reliance Industries, reinforcing confidence in its long-term artificial intelligence strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company launched Instagram Plus globally, an optional subscription product that could help diversify revenue beyond advertising.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentary from Morgan Stanley, Zacks, and others continued to describe Meta as a high-quality growth and compounder stock, with recent earnings still viewed as strong.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.