Meta Platforms, Inc. $META Shares Acquired by Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab

Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 99.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 295,298 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 147,603 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.8% of Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $194,923,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 36.8% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 78 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Dorato Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, PMV Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 96 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Meta Platforms News

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

• Negative Sentiment: Santa Clara County sued Meta, alleging the company earned money from scam advertisements on Facebook and Instagram and violated California false advertising and unfair business practices laws. California county sues Meta over scam ads
• Negative Sentiment: Another report highlighted the same lawsuit, framing it as a claim that Meta earned billions from scam Facebook ads, reinforcing investor worries about reputational damage and possible legal costs. Meta accused of earning billions from scam Facebook ads in new California lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: A plaintiffs’ law firm also announced an investigation into Meta’s board over possible breaches of fiduciary duty tied to privacy oversight and AI training practices, which could keep governance concerns in focus. Berger Montague PC Investigates Meta Platforms, Inc.’s Board of Directors for Breach of Fiduciary Duty (META)
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary remained constructive overall, with coverage noting that Wall Street still sees upside in Meta despite recent post-earnings volatility, which may help limit downside. Meta Platforms’ Wild Post-Earnings Swings: Where Analyst Price Targets Stand Now

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $760.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Pivotal Research lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $930.00 to $910.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $850.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $840.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,352.84. This trade represents a 74.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.45, for a total transaction of $1,748,612.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,645,103.65. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 167,676 shares of company stock valued at $107,299,848. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.8%

NASDAQ META opened at $598.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $625.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $643.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.35. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $520.26 and a one year high of $796.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.77, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The social networking company reported $10.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.67 by $3.77. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.84% and a return on equity of 36.93%. The business had revenue of $56.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 29.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.63%.

Meta Platforms Profile

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.