Davidson Kahn Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Davidson Kahn Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,760 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $2,787,000. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.6% of Davidson Kahn Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in 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 valued at $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $696.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total value of $635,527.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 28,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,936,593.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at $209,199,589.06. This trade represents a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 223,629 shares of company stock valued at $157,894,751. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ META traded up $3.52 on Monday, hitting $600.54. The stock had a trading volume of 6,743,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,425,956. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business's fifty day moving average price is $575.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $603.99. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.