Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Pineridge Advisors LLC

Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 97.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 144 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 71 shares during the quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $84,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after purchasing an additional 112,047 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 72.2% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 7,228 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,138,000 after acquiring an additional 3,031 shares in the last quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $998,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fusion Family Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fusion Family Wealth LLC now owns 749 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.1 %

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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total value of $14,194,198.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 751,033 shares of company stock worth $480,911,671 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Wolfe Research upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $717.90.

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.