HM Payson & Co. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 174,656 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,544 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.7% of HM Payson & Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. HM Payson & Co.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $102,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. VeraBank N.A. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LGL Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. LGL Partners LLC now owns 2,834 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,659,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.56, for a total value of $260,008.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 18,340 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,546,130.40. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 726,610 shares of company stock worth $473,620,892. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Price Performance
META stock traded down $28.92 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $590.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,401,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,671,526. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company's 50 day moving average is $657.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $602.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week 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 announced 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 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 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. 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%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. 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 note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $719.26.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Meta Platforms
About Meta Platforms
(
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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