Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. Has $3.88 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.0% of Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $4,223,148,000. Morgan Stanley bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $4,072,543,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $1,796,633,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $1,731,491,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $4.05 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $491.84. The company had a trading volume of 5,767,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,877,510. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $197.90 and a 1-year high of $523.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $462.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $374.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $513.32, for a total transaction of $251,526.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,148,086.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,064 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.51, for a total transaction of $374,006.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $513.32, for a total value of $251,526.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,148,086.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,394,945 shares of company stock valued at $648,755,681 in the last three months. 14.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $536.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $440.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wedbush increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $496.35.

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.