Marco Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Marco Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,501 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,071,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Stockton increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Signify Wealth bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $79,212,000 after purchasing an additional 4,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559 in the last quarter. 13.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $1.91 on Friday, hitting $443.29. 32,645,619 shares of the stock traded hands, 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 firm has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $494.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $405.39. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $229.85 and a 1 year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms 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.