Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 377,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,594 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $220,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after buying an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after buying an additional 110,040 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $602.58 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $655.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $607.98. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 previous year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total transaction of $535,542.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,477,780.40. The trade was a 2.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 584,823 shares of company stock worth $386,274,777. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.