Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is NEOS Investment Management LLC’s 7th Largest Position

NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 174,315 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,747 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 2.4% of NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $102,063,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240,810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,662,000 after purchasing an additional 890,434 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $602.58 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $655.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $607.98. 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 cap of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released 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 business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 584,823 shares of company stock valued at $386,274,777 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

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.