III Capital Management Acquires 4,276 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

III Capital Management raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 114.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,000 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 4,276 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.8% of III Capital Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. III Capital Management's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $866,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,229,350 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on META. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $750.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 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 issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $688.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 237,017 shares of company stock valued at $167,207,524. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $31.66 on Friday, hitting $603.87. 18,118,997 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,443,890. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $576.50 and its 200 day moving average is $603.54. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $432.28 and a 52 week 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 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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