Night Owl Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Night Owl Capital Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,606 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,652 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.8% of Night Owl Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Night Owl Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $29,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Noked Israel Ltd grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Noked Israel Ltd now owns 71,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,688,000 after acquiring an additional 16,950 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 176.2% during the fourth quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 32,062 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,772,000 after purchasing an additional 20,454 shares during the period. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 1,818 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,065,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 227.4% in the fourth quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 407,817 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $238,781,000 after purchasing an additional 283,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. MayTech Global Investments LLC now owns 100,596 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $58,900,000 after purchasing an additional 1,503 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total transaction of $14,445,949.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. The trade was a 6.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,324 shares of company stock worth $68,637,452 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of META opened at $656.03 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. 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 has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50 day moving average is $569.09 and its 200 day moving average is $605.57.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho boosted their price objective 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. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $696.45.

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.