Advisors Capital Management LLC Has $5.84 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,973 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 1,079 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 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 $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.45, for a total value of $338,321.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,014 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,790,040.30. The trade was a 10.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 414,901 shares of company stock worth $282,367,368. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.3 %

META traded down $1.64 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $500.67. 8,677,470 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,794,287. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The stock's 50-day moving average is $616.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $607.81. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $684.10.

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.