Horizon Investments LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 116.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,912 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 15,574 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,928,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,188,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. Essential Planning LLC. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Finally, Gilbert & Cook Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $204,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Meta Platforms Price Performance
META stock traded up $23.30 during trading on Monday, hitting $619.55. 15,717,566 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,812,137. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $655.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $606.39. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. 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 $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.
Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms
In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 622,431 shares of company stock worth $408,968,491. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $718.31.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Profile
(
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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