Natixis Advisors LLC Acquires 55,572 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,724,623 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 55,572 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.9% of Natixis Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Meta Platforms worth $1,009,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $582.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $656.80 and a 200-day moving average of $604.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.46, for a total value of $21,712,807.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total transaction of $243,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,576,930. This represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 631,415 shares of company stock worth $414,365,524 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms 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.