BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Sells 88,685 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 518,250 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 88,685 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 2.2% of BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $382,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bare Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 237.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 54 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $44,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 42.6% in the second quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 67 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $870.00 price target (down from $900.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $920.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $860.00 to $808.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $819.46.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $644.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $665.92 and a 200-day moving average of $706.78. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $479.80 and a one year high of $796.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The company had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.03 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 519 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $664.16, for a total value of $344,699.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,067,594.40. This represents a 1.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $669.63, for a total transaction of $346,198.71. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 13,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,208,082.13. The trade was a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 41,959 shares of company stock valued at $26,578,191 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.61% 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.