Nutshell Asset Management Ltd Acquires Shares of 11,963 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Nutshell Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,963 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,004,000. Meta Platforms comprises 4.4% of Nutshell Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Seelaus Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on META shares. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 5.1 %

NASDAQ META opened at $504.73 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $648.15 and its 200 day moving average is $609.75. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total value of $252,797.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,467,522.10. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.