Ground Swell Capital LLC Acquires New Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 517 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Full Sail Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Full Sail Capital LLC now owns 1,557 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $912,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 167,897 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $98,305,000 after purchasing an additional 27,718 shares in the last quarter. Ethic Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 133,866 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $78,380,000 after purchasing an additional 34,367 shares during the last quarter. Eschler Asset Management LLP grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Eschler Asset Management LLP now owns 6,246 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,657,000 after buying an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 104,436 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $61,298,000 after buying an additional 47,364 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $696.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 155,689 shares of company stock worth $109,097,842 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $592.49 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 company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $568.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $604.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.71 EPS. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost 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 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

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.