Horizon Investment Services LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,945 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.2% of Horizon Investment Services LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Horizon Investment Services LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,238,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. United Bank grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $625,000. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 38.6% during the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 20,773 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $11,891,000 after acquiring an additional 5,786 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm'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 value of $6,300,738.51. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total transaction of $535,542.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,477,780.40. This represents a 2.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 584,410 shares of company stock worth $386,031,454 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $718.55.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on META
Meta Platforms Price Performance
Shares of META traded down $1.62 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $575.12. The stock had a trading volume of 14,540,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,241,163. The company has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company's 50-day moving average is $655.23 and its 200 day moving average is $609.90.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.37%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.
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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