Gallacher Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gallacher Capital Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,848 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Gallacher Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Collaborative Wealth Managment Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Collaborative Wealth Managment Inc. now owns 462 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 11,050 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,470,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the period. CV Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 195.3% during the 4th quarter. CV Advisors LLC now owns 8,530 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,994,000 after acquiring an additional 5,641 shares during the last quarter. Centurion Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Centurion Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,123 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,243,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Ninepoint Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP now owns 1,601 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $937,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total transaction of $6,075,554.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 632,023 shares of company stock valued at $414,734,884. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $584.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $656.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $604.69. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. 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 yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on META. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

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.