Morton Capital Management LLC CA Raises Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Morton Capital Management LLC CA boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,974 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Morton Capital Management LLC CA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,011,920,000 after buying an additional 1,733,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 88,542,953 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $25,410,057,000 after purchasing an additional 1,548,671 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,223,148,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.47, for a total value of $6,917,281.07. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $513.32, for a total transaction of $251,526.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,148,086.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.47, for a total value of $6,917,281.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,504,435 shares of company stock worth $703,629,367 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $440.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $496.35.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $8.28 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $485.58. 15,065,610 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,905,725. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $202.54 and a 52-week high of $523.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $464.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $375.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

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.