Northstar Financial Companies Inc. Purchases New Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Northstar Financial Companies Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,373 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $804,000. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.8% of Northstar Financial Companies Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Suvretta Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 170,338 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $99,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. Skye Global Management LP now owns 76,200 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $44,616,000 after purchasing an additional 43,200 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 255.9% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total transaction of $593,124.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,945 shares in the company, valued at $21,860,580. This represents a 2.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.96, for a total value of $409,767.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,662 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,837,841.52. This trade represents a 6.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,664 shares of company stock worth $35,484,670 over the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Pivotal Research reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI upped 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, May 1st. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $695.00 to $888.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $701.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $2.82 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $642.23. The stock had a trading volume of 16,230,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,491,179. The business's fifty day moving average is $578.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $610.83. 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 company has a market cap of $1.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. 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 issued its 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 business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.