Zacks Investment Management Has $193.19 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Zacks Investment Management decreased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 329,944 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 28,274 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.8% of Zacks Investment Management's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Zacks Investment Management's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $193,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,719,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after acquiring an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,211,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on META. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $684.10.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.22, for a total transaction of $489,253.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 28,419 shares in the company, valued at $15,096,741.18. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. The trade was a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 379,901 shares of company stock valued at $260,806,516. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $501.48. 14,540,656 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,787,586. 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 cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $608.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $607.04. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.