Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Edgewood Management LLC

Edgewood Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,250 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the quarter. Edgewood Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gator Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Gator Capital Management LLC now owns 2,080 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,218,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,371 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,585,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Alcosta Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Alcosta Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,999 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,197,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 8,259 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,836,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the period. Finally, Darden Wealth Group Inc increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. Darden Wealth Group Inc now owns 1,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $951,000 after purchasing an additional 560 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 analysts have commented on META shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total value of $342,322.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,507,676.90. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $504.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $648.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $610.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

About Meta Platforms

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.