Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 652,767 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 39,752 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.2% of Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $382,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $740.00 to $628.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $676.55.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 308,068 shares of company stock valued at $214,968,924. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $533.15 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $590.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $604.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

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.