X Square Capital LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

X Square Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,490 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 20 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.5% of X Square Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. X Square Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,142,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,835,000. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,691,000 after purchasing an additional 1,790 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $19,085,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 377,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $220,897,000 after buying an additional 20,594 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,552,673.10. This represents a 2.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 584,823 shares of company stock worth $386,274,777. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $602.58 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $655.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $607.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on META. Barclays lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

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.