Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda

Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 24.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 37,262 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,262 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 7.9% of Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.66, for a total value of $567,127.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,760,768.50. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 690,689 shares of company stock worth $451,269,409. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $607.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $658.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $603.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio 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.