Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stock Holdings Decreased by Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 39,382 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 32 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $23,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on META. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two 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.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $619.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.90, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $658.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $602.08. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

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 the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total value of $643,414.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total transaction of $370,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,054 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,904,886. The trade was a 7.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 725,689 shares of company stock valued at $473,072,897. 13.71% of the stock is 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.