Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Private Portfolio Partners LLC

Private Portfolio Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,367 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,972,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 8,133 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,765,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 39,326 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,026,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191 shares during the period. Scholtz & Company LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Scholtz & Company LLC now owns 16,838 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,859,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in Meta Platforms by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 160,717 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $95,022,000 after purchasing an additional 22,988 shares during the period. Finally, OV Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. OV Management LLC now owns 10,633 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,226,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total transaction of $571,552.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,215,915.50. This trade represents a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 583,505 shares of company stock valued at $385,495,911. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on META. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $586.00 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $653.89 and a 200-day moving average of $610.68.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.