Capital Analysts LLC Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Capital Analysts LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,886 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Client Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Keel Point LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 8,062 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,854,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372 shares during the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 248 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 12,967 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,590,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hoxton Planning & Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 2,894 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,439,788 shares of company stock worth $684,542,792 over the last quarter. 14.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $499.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $493.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $396.01. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $207.13 and a 12-month high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.00 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

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.