Palestra Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 438,062 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 54,061 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 7.0% of Palestra Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Palestra Capital Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $256,490,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Pivotal Research reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $696.45.
Read Our Latest Report on Meta Platforms
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total value of $502,101.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,577 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,488,983.09. This represents a 3.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 237,017 shares of company stock valued at $167,207,524 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.3 %
NASDAQ:META traded up $24.81 on Friday, hitting $597.02. 24,702,127 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,463,489. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company's 50-day moving average price is $575.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $603.62.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change 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 of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.
Meta Platforms Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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