Berkeley Capital Partners LLC Has $1.18 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Berkeley Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,011 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 622,844 shares of company stock worth $409,212,161. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

META opened at $596.25 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month 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. The company has a fifty day moving average of $655.38 and a 200-day moving average of $605.74. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

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, topping 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.