Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 112,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $66,091,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares during the period. Presidio Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.5% in the third quarter. Presidio Capital Management LLC now owns 661 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 86,644 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,721 shares during the period. Finally, Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the third quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. now owns 741 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $424,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month 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. The company has a 50-day moving average of $657.45 and a 200-day moving average of $601.96. The firm has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business posted $5.33 earnings per share. 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a boost 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 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total transaction of $22,351,483.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 725,081 shares of company stock worth $472,702,625 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.