First Foundation Advisors Has $12.84 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Foundation Advisors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,934 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,408 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors' holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $14.08 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $529.49. 8,330,641 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,752,300. 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 fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm's fifty day moving average is $628.35 and its 200 day moving average is $609.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its 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 period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. 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 (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Pivotal Research raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $698.40.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 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 transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total transaction of $547,108.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 31,105 shares in the company, valued at $18,804,216.70. This represents a 2.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 451,119 shares of company stock worth $304,709,239. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

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.