GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 13,483 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,260,000. Meta Platforms comprises 1.4% of GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. FMR LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,752,900,000 after acquiring an additional 4,908,251 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 55.9% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,632,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,591,602,000 after purchasing an additional 3,093,715 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1,457.5% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,156,360 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,117,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,953,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $834,315,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $520.28.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 2,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $958,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,053 shares in the company, valued at $4,757,883.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,391,935 shares of company stock worth $666,288,408 over the last three months. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.0 %

META stock traded up $14.37 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $496.10. The stock had a trading volume of 14,985,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,131,002. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $207.13 and a one year high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company’s 50 day moving average is $494.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $401.23. The company has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

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.