SIH Partners LLLP Acquires Shares of 9,550 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

SIH Partners LLLP bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 9,550 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $5,592,000. Meta Platforms comprises 0.3% of SIH Partners LLLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,219 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the period. Aldebaran Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 2,853 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,048 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $9,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,480 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.6 %

NASDAQ META traded up $14.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $547.27. 17,056,696 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,720,215. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $590.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $604.75.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted 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 period last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,265,707.52. This represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 308,068 shares of company stock valued at $214,968,924 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $676.55.

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.