Disciplined Investors L.L.C. Invests $293,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Disciplined Investors L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 482 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $293,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares during the period. United Bank raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. Miura Global Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 175.0% during the 3rd quarter. Miura Global Management LLC now owns 22,000 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $12,594,000 after acquiring an additional 14,000 shares during the period. Finally, Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. now owns 12,950 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $7,413,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 5.1 %

NASDAQ:META traded down $26.89 on Friday, hitting $504.73. The stock had a trading volume of 38,506,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,408,911. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $648.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $610.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change 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 payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company'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 value of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms 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 owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 549,113 shares of company stock valued at $364,668,246 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.