Greenwood Gearhart Inc. Has $16.81 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Greenwood Gearhart Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,716 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 914 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.2% of Greenwood Gearhart Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Greenwood Gearhart Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $255,234.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 16,275 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,057,950. This represents a 2.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 379,901 shares of company stock worth $260,806,516. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $684.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $501.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,540,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,827,120. 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 one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $608.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $606.80.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 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.