28,100 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Bought by Maestria Partners LLC

Maestria Partners LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 28,100 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,453,000. Meta Platforms accounts for about 6.5% of Maestria Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $70,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total value of $243,670.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,927 shares in the company, valued at $10,576,930. This represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,103 shares in the company, valued at $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 622,844 shares of company stock worth $409,212,161 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $596.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $655.38 and its 200 day moving average is $605.74. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS 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 company posted $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid 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 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. UBS Group upped 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. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.