Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Raised by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,488,210 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,211 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.7% of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $871,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Custos Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $307,000. PDS Planning Inc increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 9,950 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,826,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 6,975 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,084,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,837 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,931,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RD Lewis Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $203,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $586.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $655.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $604.56. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 622,844 shares of company stock valued at $409,212,161 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company 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.