Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.

Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 60.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,265 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 850 shares during the quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. VeraBank N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, LGL Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. LGL Partners LLC now owns 2,834 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,659,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $582.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $656.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $604.84.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total value of $6,075,554.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 631,415 shares of company stock worth $414,365,524. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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.