Schubert & Co Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Schubert & Co boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 659 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Schubert & Co’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $386,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after buying an additional 112,047 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 853 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC now owns 68,702 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,328,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 100,448 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $57,501,000 after purchasing an additional 4,735 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.3 %

META stock opened at $668.13 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $647.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $593.08. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 3,523 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $701.10, for a total transaction of $2,469,975.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 812,422 shares of company stock valued at $525,534,818 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.