Blair William & Co. IL Acquires 20,594 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings 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 institutional investor 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 quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VeraBank N.A. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $602.58 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50 day moving average is $655.95 and its 200 day moving average is $607.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side 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 was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,607,740.16. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 584,823 shares of company stock valued at $386,274,777 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms 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.