Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 315,152 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,997 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.1% of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $180,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. Keybank National Association OH lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $88,319,000 after buying an additional 18,169 shares in the last quarter. WMS Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $876,000. Consolidated Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Consolidated Investment Group LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,215,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,995,630 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $132,015,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,269,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Third View Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $27,789,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $595.19 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.64, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $604.51 and a 200-day moving average of $625.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $520.26 and a 52 week high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.67 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.56 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 36.93% and a net margin of 32.84%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.43 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.49 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: A new free verification badge system for Facebook users, which may improve trust and platform quality. Fast Company article
• Positive Sentiment: A dedicated Marketplace seller app with tools for merchants, aimed at making Facebook commerce more useful and organized. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remained constructive, with articles highlighting Meta as a strong momentum stock and a potentially attractive AI-era value name.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment stayed favorable, including a report that Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta to $835.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 3,348 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.97, for a total value of $2,012,047.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 9,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,708,013.06. The trade was a 26.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 500 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.75, for a total transaction of $303,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,092,483.25. This trade represents a 12.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 sold a total of 37,948 shares of company stock worth $23,184,319 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $850.00 to $800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $835.64.

About Meta Platforms

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.