AXQ Capital LP Invests $259,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 442 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,437 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,662,000 after acquiring an additional 890,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,262,991 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,824,934,000 after purchasing an additional 795,570 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 32,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 585,605 shares of company stock worth $386,710,448. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of META stock opened at $619.55 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $655.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $607.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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 the consensus estimate 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 last year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.