Natural Investments LLC Makes New $282,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Natural Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 482 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 3,287.2% during the fourth quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 544,012 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $318,524,000 after purchasing an additional 527,951 shares in the last quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 30.3% during the 4th quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 8,917 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,221,000 after buying an additional 2,072 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 278,381 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $162,995,000 after buying an additional 3,150 shares in the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,494,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. Finally, Founders Financial Alliance LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 2,798 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $607.60 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $658.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $603.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase 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%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.56, for a total value of $260,008.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 18,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,546,130.40. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 690,689 shares of company stock worth $451,269,409. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.