By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
White Pine Capital LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,420 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the quarter. White Pine Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,417,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after acquiring an additional 112,047 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the third quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,543 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $883,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Waterway Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 146.1% during the third quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV raised its position in Meta Platforms by 6.4% during the third quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV now owns 1,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Activity
In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $717.90.
Read Our Latest Analysis on META
Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3 %
Shares of META opened at $694.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $645.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $589.12.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.36%.
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.
See Also
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