Strid Group LLC Acquires New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Strid Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 570 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $4,223,148,000. Morgan Stanley purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,072,543,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $1,796,633,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $1,731,491,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on META shares. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $519.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total value of $217,910.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 35,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,585,110. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock valued at $684,796,490. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of META stock traded up $12.77 on Thursday, hitting $506.94. The stock had a trading volume of 7,422,040 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,944,693. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $207.13 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $493.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $396.70.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

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.