Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,890 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 907 shares during the period. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,475,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,121 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $549.74 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $427.11 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company's fifty day moving average is $583.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $604.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $615.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $628.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $681.95.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total value of $199,626.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares in the company, valued at $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 284,384 shares of company stock worth $199,598,622 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.