Next Capital Management LLC Purchases 231 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Next Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,010 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 231 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 4.5% of Next Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Next Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after purchasing an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,437 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,662,000 after purchasing an additional 890,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.46, for a total transaction of $21,712,807.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 622,844 shares of company stock worth $409,212,161 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $596.25 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $655.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $605.08. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

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.