FLC Capital Advisors Grows Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

FLC Capital Advisors raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,875 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,787,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,223,148,000. Morgan Stanley acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,072,543,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,796,633,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,731,491,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $8.28 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $485.58. 15,029,095 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,905,725. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $464.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $375.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The company has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $202.54 and a twelve month high of $523.57.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.47, for a total transaction of $6,917,281.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.29, for a total transaction of $295,594.65. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,993,314.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.47, for a total value of $6,917,281.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,504,435 shares of company stock valued at $703,629,367. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Mizuho increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $440.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $527.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $496.35.

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.