WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd Acquires 46,300 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1,780.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,300 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 9.8% of WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $28,631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stokes Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 5,966 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,493,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Marin boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Marin now owns 1,611 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $943,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Councilmark Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Councilmark Asset Management LLC now owns 3,025 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,771,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. West Tower Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 125.0% during the fourth quarter. West Tower Group LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,054,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Saiph Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Saiph Capital LLC now owns 858 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.46, for a total value of $21,712,807.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,199,589.06. This trade represents a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 622,844 shares of company stock worth $409,212,161. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $596.25 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $655.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $605.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms 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.