Mariner LLC Buys 61,328 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mariner LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 949,713 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 61,328 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.9% of Mariner LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Mariner LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $556,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Peninsula Wealth LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC now owns 2,790 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,633,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 22,808 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,354,000 after buying an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 315,095 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $184,491,000 after acquiring an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 19,178 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $11,229,000 after purchasing an additional 2,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Financial Group grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 127.5% in the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 31,091 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $18,204,000 after purchasing an additional 17,425 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. The trade was a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 414,901 shares of company stock valued at $282,367,368. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $684.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded up $3.80 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $506.11. 9,749,358 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,799,216. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The business's 50-day moving average is $616.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $607.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.