Scotia Capital Inc. Purchases 10,611 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 374,036 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,611 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.2% of Scotia Capital Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $219,011,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $698.40.

Remove Ads

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total value of $500,462.19. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,943,062.60. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 451,119 shares of company stock valued at $304,709,239 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $9.58 on Monday, hitting $533.99. The stock had a trading volume of 6,530,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,746,188. The stock has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business's 50 day moving average is $628.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $609.40. 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 twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.