KCM Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 186 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,937 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC boosted its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 5.1 %

Shares of META opened at $504.73 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $648.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $609.75. 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 results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total transaction of $252,797.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,467,522.10. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.42, for a total transaction of $8,023,999.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 420,215 shares in the company, valued at $259,869,360.30. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246. 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.