Opinicus Capital Inc. Makes New $886,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Opinicus Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,504 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $886,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after purchasing an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 55.9% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,632,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,591,602,000 after purchasing an additional 3,093,715 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1,457.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,156,360 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,117,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $834,315,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $1.91 on Friday, hitting $443.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 32,645,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,233,678. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $494.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $404.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $229.85 and a one year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.18.

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.