Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Buys 1,013 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,689 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,013 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.9% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $35,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.55, for a total transaction of $198,977.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,001,725.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,504,435 shares of company stock valued at $703,629,367 over the last ninety days. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Raymond James lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $385.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $496.35.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.7 %

META stock traded down $8.28 during trading on Thursday, reaching $485.58. 15,191,214 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,907,553. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $464.84 and its 200 day moving average is $375.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $202.54 and a twelve month high of $523.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

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.