Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Longitude Cayman Ltd.

Longitude Cayman Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 76.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,700 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 2,900 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 0.8% of Longitude Cayman Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Longitude Cayman Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,923,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of META opened at $736.67 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $638.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $584.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 751,033 shares of company stock worth $480,911,671 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on META. Truist Financial increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

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.