Front Street Capital Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Front Street Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 344 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms 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 value of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 379,901 shares of company stock worth $260,806,516 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on META. Bank of America reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $684.10.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $501.48 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $612.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $607.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Meta Platforms 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.