GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,919 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 177 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.5% of GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,248,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $584.06 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $656.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $604.69. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 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 results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total value of $6,075,554.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. This trade represents a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 632,023 shares of company stock worth $414,734,884 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their target price 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. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” 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 note on Monday, January 27th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Company 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.