Isthmus Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Isthmus Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 360.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,008 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the period. Isthmus Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,176,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $70,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $607.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $658.01 and a 200-day moving average of $602.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,035 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.63, for a total transaction of $13,631,512.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $547,995.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,649,280. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 690,689 shares of company stock valued at $451,269,409 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.