Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 347.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,310 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 2,571 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,938,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms 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. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the firm’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,010 shares in the company, valued at $20,215,915.50. This represents a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 549,113 shares of company stock valued at $364,668,246. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 5.1 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $504.73 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $648.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $609.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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 of this dividend 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 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

About Meta Platforms

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.