Fernwood Investment Management LLC Buys 322 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fernwood Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,389 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.9% of Fernwood Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Fernwood Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,571,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. FMR LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 55.9% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1,457.5% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $834,315,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,277,048 shares of company stock valued at $620,679,759 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.4 %

META stock traded down $10.67 during trading on Monday, hitting $432.62. The company had a trading volume of 21,472,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,429,988. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $494.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $405.39. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $229.85 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.89, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.