Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,302 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 793,070 shares of company stock valued at $504,185,108. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $736.67 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $638.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $582.68.

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 last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

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.