Main Street Research LLC Has $58.35 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Main Street Research LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,613 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 3.6% of Main Street Research LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $58,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $459,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.9 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $607.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $658.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $602.61.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 previous year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,035 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.63, for a total transaction of $13,631,512.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 690,689 shares of company stock worth $451,269,409. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

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.