Warburton Capital Management LLC Invests $261,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Warburton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 447 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $70,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total value of $643,414.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 690,689 shares of company stock worth $451,269,409 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho boosted their target price 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. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.9 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $607.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $658.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $603.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 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.