Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Townsquare Capital LLC

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 19.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 148,597 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,713 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.0% of Townsquare Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $87,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,344,552,000 after acquiring an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $790.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $701.38.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total value of $547,108.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 31,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,804,216.70. This trade represents a 2.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 487,453 shares of company stock worth $326,680,904 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $543.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $628.35 and a 200-day moving average of $609.11. The firm has a market cap of $1.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, 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 was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

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.