Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 95,438 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $55,880,000.
A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,211,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of analysts recently commented on META shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Securities cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $696.45.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
NASDAQ:META opened at $597.02 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $575.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $603.99.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $706.72, for a total value of $9,169,692.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $121,588,349.12. This trade represents a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 223,629 shares of company stock valued at $157,894,751 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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