LRT Capital Management LLC Buys New Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LRT Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 605 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $354,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth 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 during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $740.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $696.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.52, for a total transaction of $545,710.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,656 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,201,693.12. This represents a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,932 shares of company stock valued at $69,021,252 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $3.33 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $659.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,322,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,518,745. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $442.65 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $569.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $605.57. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. Meta Platforms's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

About Meta Platforms

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.