Banco Santander S.A. Buys 48,375 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Banco Santander S.A. raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 30.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 207,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,375 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.5% of Banco Santander S.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $121,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,063,196 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,304,336,000 after acquiring an additional 70,746 shares in the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 20,562 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,039,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 46.7% during the fourth quarter. Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd now owns 11,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,441,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA now owns 3,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,347,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Haven Private LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $358,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.66, for a total value of $567,127.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,725 shares in the company, valued at $21,760,768.50. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 725,689 shares of company stock valued at $473,072,897 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $619.56 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.90, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $658.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $602.08. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost 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 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.