Sfmg LLC Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sfmg LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,813 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the quarter. Sfmg LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,011,920,000 after buying an additional 1,733,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,223,148,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,906,009,000 after purchasing an additional 946,871 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $7.20 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $492.56. 4,257,662 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,971,529. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $493.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $396.01. The company has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $207.13 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 35,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,585,110. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total value of $217,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,286 shares in the company, valued at $13,585,110. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,439,788 shares of company stock valued at $684,542,792 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.28.

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.