Straightline Group LLC Invests $347,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Straightline Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 593 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $347,000. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.2% of Straightline Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $770.00 price target (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $701.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total value of $500,462.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at $15,943,062.60. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 487,453 shares of company stock worth $326,680,904. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $2.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $543.57. 17,619,060 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,764,979. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The business's 50-day moving average is $628.35 and its 200-day moving average is $609.11. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.