Everest Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 913 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $535,000. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.5% of Everest Management Corp.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position.
Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 worth $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,219 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the third quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 2,853 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,048 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $9,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,480 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms have commented on META. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $684.10.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on META
Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms
In other news, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 379,901 shares of company stock valued at $260,806,516 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %
Shares of META traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $501.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,540,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,827,047. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average of $612.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $607.32. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.
About Meta Platforms
(
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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