Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Guardian Capital LP

Guardian Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 429.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,283 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,019 shares during the period. Guardian Capital LP's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 16,462 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $9,639,000 after purchasing an additional 5,268 shares during the period. GG Group Ventures LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. GG Group Ventures LLC now owns 953 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $558,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Wick Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 701.1% during the fourth quarter. Wick Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,390 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,570,000 after acquiring an additional 3,842 shares during the period. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $1,258,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 1,846 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on META. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Moffett Nathanson boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $688.63.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 4.3 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $24.81 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $597.02. The stock had a trading volume of 24,702,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,463,475. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $576.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $603.54. 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 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month 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, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.