Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Buys 4,568 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 21.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,627 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,568 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $14,736,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of META stock opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $657.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $601.96.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total value of $593,124.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,860,580. The trade was a 2.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 725,081 shares of company stock worth $472,702,625. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.