Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,302 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed 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 assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ META opened at $736.67 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $638.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $582.68. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total value of $10,320,386.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,888,979.95. The trade was a 28.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 793,070 shares of company stock valued at $504,185,108. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.