Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Fisher Asset Management LLC

Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.6% of Fisher Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned 0.26% of Meta Platforms worth $3,908,382,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $70,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $625.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.16, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $656.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $599.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 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 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $623.50, for a total transaction of $257,505.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 18,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,692,495.50. The trade was a 2.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total transaction of $593,124.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,860,580. The trade was a 2.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 775,295 shares of company stock worth $504,237,715. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.