Tidemark LLC Acquires 42 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Tidemark LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 634 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Tidemark LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $371,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. United Bank increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,188,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Connable Office Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 5,655 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,237,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 119,583 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $68,454,000 after buying an additional 7,628 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $582.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $656.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $604.84. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-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.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change 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 payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total value of $243,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,576,930. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total value of $545,235.35. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,375,535.40. This represents a 2.61 % 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 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.