NS Partners Ltd lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 169,556 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 3,352 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 4.1% of NS Partners Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. NS Partners Ltd's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $99,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. VeraBank N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LGL Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. LGL Partners LLC now owns 2,834 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,659,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Meta Platforms Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $28.92 on Thursday, reaching $590.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,401,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,671,526. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $657.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $602.00. 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 company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.69, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 previous year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.56, for a total value of $260,008.28. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 18,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,546,130.40. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total transaction of $22,351,483.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 726,610 shares of company stock valued at $473,620,892 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research analysts have recently commented on META shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note 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 given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $719.26.
Check Out Our Latest Report on META
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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