Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by V Square Quantitative Management LLC

V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 35.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,813 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,585 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 0.8% of V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after buying an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on META shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $694.84 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $645.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $589.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.05, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business posted $5.33 EPS. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.