Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Lifted by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 210.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,143 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,471 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.0% of Virtu Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $19,405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $8,344,552,000 after acquiring an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after acquiring an additional 186,728 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,262,991 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,824,934,000 after acquiring an additional 795,570 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $596.25 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.93, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $655.38 and a 200 day moving average of $606.39.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company 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. 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 is 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,103 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 622,431 shares of company stock worth $408,968,491 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.