Benchstone Capital Management LP Purchases Shares of 40,561 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Benchstone Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 40,561 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $23,749,000. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.5% of Benchstone Capital Management LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,426,012 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $834,944,000 after acquiring an additional 74,746 shares during the last quarter. Next Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Next Capital Management LLC now owns 19,010 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $11,131,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $22,434,000. GM Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,915 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,733,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the period. Finally, GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $9,830,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $740.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $696.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total value of $635,527.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 28,390 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,936,593.60. The trade was a 3.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 223,629 shares of company stock worth $157,894,751 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded up $2.25 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $599.27. 13,858,431 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,453,490. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $575.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $603.99. The company has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $442.65 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

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.