Symmetry Investments LP Acquires 32,300 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Symmetry Investments LP lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 258.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,800 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 32,300 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.4% of Symmetry Investments LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Symmetry Investments LP's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $26,231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 30,980 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $18,139,000 after purchasing an additional 4,101 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 476,667 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $279,093,000 after buying an additional 4,034 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Quantessence Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,386,000. Finally, Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $468,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $676.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.6 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $14.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $547.27. The stock had a trading volume of 17,064,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,447,709. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $590.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $604.75. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $427.11 and a 12 month 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. The company has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued 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 quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities 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 was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 308,068 shares of company stock worth $214,968,924 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.