Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 27.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,610 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,435 shares during the quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,870,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $718.31.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
META stock traded down $15.33 on Wednesday, reaching $610.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,592,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,819,908. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $656.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $608.00.
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 (EPS) 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,103 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 585,605 shares of company stock worth $386,710,448. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Meta Platforms Profile
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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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