V Square Quantitative Management LLC Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 35.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,813 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,585 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.8% of V Square Quantitative Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. V Square Quantitative Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $61,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $11.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $683.62. 15,609,265 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,750,735. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $645.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $589.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.36%.

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.