Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. Purchases New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,025 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 206,615 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $120,975,000 after purchasing an additional 64,947 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 210.6% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 33,143 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $19,405,000 after purchasing an additional 22,471 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 655.5% in the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 8,250 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,830,000 after purchasing an additional 7,158 shares in the last quarter. ZEGA Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $3,375,000. Finally, von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $259,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $596.25 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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’s 50-day moving average is $655.38 and its 200 day moving average is $606.39.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total transaction of $545,235.35. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,375,535.40. This represents a 2.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total value of $369,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,446 shares in the company, valued at $4,523,445. This trade represents a 7.55 % decrease in their position. 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 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.