Harvard Management Co. Inc. Acquires 112,500 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Harvard Management Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,302,881 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 112,500 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 45.2% of Harvard Management Co. Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Harvard Management Co. Inc. owned about 0.05% of Meta Platforms worth $762,850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock traded up $24.81 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $597.02. 24,702,127 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,463,489. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $575.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $603.62.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total value of $643,414.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,607,740.16. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,265,707.52. This represents a 8.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 237,017 shares of company stock valued at $167,207,524 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on META. Wedbush lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Roth Capital increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $696.45.

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.