Optivise Advisory Services LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 67.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,736 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Two 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $676.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded up $12.88 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $533.15. 13,724,832 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,802,200. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company's fifty day moving average price is $594.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $605.11.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total value of $24,195,307.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 343,068 shares of company stock valued at $237,676,335. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

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.