Vista Capital Partners Inc. Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Vista Capital Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 79.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,072 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 476 shares during the quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $261,680,000 after buying an additional 112,047 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 318.3% during the 3rd quarter. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,836 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,196,000 after acquiring an additional 2,919 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 20.9% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 1,380 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $790,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the third quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 22,684 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $12,985,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total transaction of $238,503.37. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 812,422 shares of company stock valued at $525,534,818. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $657.50 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $648.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $594.06. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $719.26.

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.

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