Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Position Raised by Jump Financial LLC

Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 105.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,868 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 36,392 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.9% of Jump Financial LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Jump Financial LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $41,494,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.1% in the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,219 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the period. Aldebaran Financial Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the third quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 2,853 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,048 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $9,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,480 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total transaction of $22,515,282.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % 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 valued at $260,806,516. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ META traded down $0.83 during trading on Friday, reaching $501.48. 14,540,656 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,827,120. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market cap 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 50 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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 $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $684.10.

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.