Gladstone Capital Management LLP Purchases Shares of 131,300 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gladstone Capital Management LLP purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 131,300 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $76,877,000. Meta Platforms accounts for 6.4% of Gladstone Capital Management LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,243,603,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in 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 worth $5,211,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total value of $547,108.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,804,216.70. The trade was a 2.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $615.41, for a total value of $7,984,944.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 381,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at $234,649,678.90. The trade was a 3.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 498,899 shares of company stock valued at $333,868,573 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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 note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $708.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $0.69 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $509.76. The stock had a trading volume of 9,033,576 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,537,383. 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 $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $638.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $609.42. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.