Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by First Manhattan CO. LLC.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 83.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 104,436 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 47,364 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $61,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake 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 period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in 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 valued at $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $696.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 119,894 shares of company stock worth $83,475,065 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 7.9%

META stock traded up $46.94 during trading on Monday, reaching $639.43. The company had a trading volume of 21,898,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,495,448. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.73, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $568.87 and a 200 day moving average of $604.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 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.