Bradyco Inc. Takes $1.60 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bradyco Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,739 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,604,000. Meta Platforms makes up 1.1% of Bradyco Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC now owns 180,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $105,392,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares in the last quarter. Shengqi Capital Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,949,000. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Greenwoods Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd. now owns 878,964 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $514,642,000 after buying an additional 15,443 shares in the last quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $841,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total value of $370,272.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,054 shares in the company, valued at $4,904,886. The trade was a 7.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total value of $643,414.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at $19,607,740.16. This trade represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 725,689 shares of company stock valued at $473,072,897. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.3 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $619.56 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.90, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $658.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $602.08.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 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.