III Capital Management Purchases 4,276 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

III Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 114.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,000 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 4,276 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.8% of III Capital Management's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. III Capital Management's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $547.27 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $587.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $604.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $427.11 and a 12-month high of $740.91. 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 (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 period last year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $679.02.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total value of $24,195,307.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value 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. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 285,289 shares of company stock worth $200,201,352 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.

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