Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Oribel Capital Management LP

Oribel Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 869.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 56,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,400 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.1% of Oribel Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Oribel Capital Management LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $32,906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $504.73 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $648.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $610.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total value of $252,797.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,467,522.10. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total transaction of $525,577.86. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.