Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Holdings Raised by Private Management Group Inc.

Private Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,038 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 47 shares during the quarter. Private Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $5,260,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,795,000 after acquiring an additional 2,397 shares during the last quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,230 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 5,344 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,892,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total value of $228,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,026,880. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total transaction of $228,664.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,026,880. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449. Corporate insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:META traded down $2.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $493.50. 25,108,083 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,184,342. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $495.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $402.50. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $207.13 and a one year high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.00 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Meta Platforms 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.