Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Takes Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 198,677 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $112,406,000. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.3% of Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,366 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $648.68, for a total transaction of $14,508,376.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 580 shares in the company, valued at $376,234.40. This trade represents a 97.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total transaction of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,360,833.70. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.6 %

META stock opened at $687.00 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $611.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $564.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $710.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $706.76.

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.