Hoey Investments Inc. Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hoey Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 119,431 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 11,578 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 11.8% of Hoey Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Hoey Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $69,928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.3 %

META opened at $576.74 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $655.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $609.90. 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 market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total transaction of $535,542.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,477,780.40. This trade represents a 2.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total transaction of $373,901.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,205,164.86. This trade represents a 8.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 584,410 shares of company stock worth $386,031,454. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.