Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Acquires 1,892,509 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 27.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,892,509 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 4.2% of Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.35% of Meta Platforms worth $5,211,967,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ META traded up $2.66 on Wednesday, reaching $588.66. 6,439,089 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,250,246. 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 quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $653.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $610.68. The company has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Remove Ads

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. 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 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $547,995.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,649,280. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 583,505 shares of company stock valued at $385,495,911 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $718.55.

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.