First Manhattan CO. LLC. Has $61.30 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 83.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 104,436 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,364 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $61,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Pivotal Research decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $624.00 to $676.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $597.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $569.82 and its 200 day moving average is $604.14.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.00, for a total transaction of $359,936.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 3,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,888,480. This trade represents a 16.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 155,689 shares of company stock valued at $109,097,842 in the last three months. 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.