Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by New Republic Capital LLC

New Republic Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,168 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.2% of New Republic Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. New Republic Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a 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 assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,362,687. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 751,033 shares of company stock worth $480,911,671 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1 %

META stock opened at $736.67 on Tuesday. 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 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 has a 50-day moving average of $641.19 and a 200-day moving average of $585.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

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.