Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Parametrica Management Ltd’s Largest Position

Parametrica Management Ltd lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,100 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 28.0% of Parametrica Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Parametrica Management Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 586,213 shares of company stock valued at $387,084,349 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.4 %

META stock opened at $610.98 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month 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 company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $656.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $608.02.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 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.