Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 199,357 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,492 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 4.0% of Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $70,564,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $66,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,244,201 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $499,020,000 after acquiring an additional 249,926 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 284.0% during the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,482 shares in the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter worth $813,000. Finally, Oxford Financial Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.9% in the 1st quarter. Oxford Financial Group Ltd. now owns 1,888 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $519.53.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,853,183.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total transaction of $291,675.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,853,183.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,421,182 shares of company stock valued at $677,574,550 in the last quarter. 13.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.3 %

Shares of META traded down $21.41 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $480.39. The company had a trading volume of 13,105,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,977,242. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $494.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $397.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $207.13 and a 52-week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.00 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.