Forge First Asset Management Inc. Acquires 6,370 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Forge First Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 43.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 21,070 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,370 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 4.4% of Forge First Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Forge First Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,338,000 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 business. SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,857,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 22,703 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,293,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Parkworth Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $79,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,360 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,579,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $607.60 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $658.01 and a 200 day moving average of $603.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,035 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.63, for a total transaction of $13,631,512.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 654,355 shares of company stock valued at $428,564,164. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.