Waddell & Associates LLC Has $1.40 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Waddell & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,389 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Texas Yale Capital Corp. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 579 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 74,924 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $43,869,000 after buying an additional 3,775 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 92,732 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $54,295,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Straightline Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $347,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $782,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on META. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $713.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total transaction of $525,577.86. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total transaction of $342,322.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,507,676.90. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 498,899 shares of company stock worth $333,868,573. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.1 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $510.45 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.34, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $638.67 and its 200 day moving average is $609.42.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

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.