Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,426 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the quarter. Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,213,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,011,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,733,182 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in 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. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 88,542,953 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $25,410,057,000 after purchasing an additional 1,548,671 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $4,223,148,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.55, for a total transaction of $198,977.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,001,725.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.55, for a total transaction of $198,977.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,001,725.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,064 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.51, for a total value of $374,006.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,504,435 shares of company stock worth $703,629,367. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.7 %

Meta Platforms stock traded down $8.28 during trading on Thursday, hitting $485.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,029,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,905,725. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $464.84 and its 200 day moving average is $375.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $202.54 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.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.