Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 60.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,265 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 850 shares during the quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of META stock opened at $582.36 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $656.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $604.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.35, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. 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 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on META. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Pivotal Research increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 631,415 shares of company stock valued at $414,365,524 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.