Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s 6th Largest Position

Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 45.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 206,615 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 64,947 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.2% of Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $120,975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 622,431 shares of company stock worth $408,968,491 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of META stock opened at $596.25 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average is $655.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $606.39.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.