Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Sells 2,537 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,854 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 2,537 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.1% of Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $45,306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. O Neil Global Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $23,323,000. Westover Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter. Westover Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,474 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,256,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 5,106 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,575,000 after buying an additional 868 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,661,000. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 52.1% during the second quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 2,251 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $620.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $565.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $577.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total transaction of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 11,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $4,714,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 74,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,285,234.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.76, for a total value of $2,663,825.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 11,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,852.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 357,574 shares of company stock valued at $185,587,773. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of META opened at $533.28 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $505.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $495.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $279.40 and a 1 year high of $544.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.46. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 34.16% and a net margin of 34.34%. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 11.49%.

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.