Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,250 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,933 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.9% of Lee Danner & Bass Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on META shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $718.31.

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Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total value of $1,387,085.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,103 shares in the company, valued at $19,269,825.75. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 585,605 shares of company stock valued at $386,710,448 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $15.33 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $610.98. The stock had a trading volume of 12,592,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,819,908. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The business's 50-day moving average is $656.24 and its 200 day moving average is $608.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.