Maestria Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 28,100 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $16,453,000. Meta Platforms comprises 6.5% of Maestria Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,266,531,000 after buying an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,344,552,000 after buying an additional 424,201 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after acquiring an additional 186,728 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.4 %
META stock traded down $15.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $610.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,592,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,819,907. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $656.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $608.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.
Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms
In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total transaction of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,318,548.24. The trade was a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 585,605 shares of company stock worth $386,710,448. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $718.31.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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