Vista Investment Partners II LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Vista Investment Partners II LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,750 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,025,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of META stock opened at $607.60 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $658.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $602.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost 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 dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $629.56, for a total value of $260,008.28. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 18,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,546,130.40. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 690,689 shares of company stock worth $451,269,409. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock 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 report on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

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.