Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Has $5.17 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,826 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 135 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,167,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after acquiring an additional 112,047 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,388,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,985 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,854,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Veracity Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 3,394 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,943,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $643.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $587.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 770,701 shares of company stock worth $495,357,621. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

About Meta Platforms

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.