Montag & Caldwell LLC Buys 48 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Montag & Caldwell LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,676 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Montag & Caldwell LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $692.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $616.16, for a total transaction of $22,133,083.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $559,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,663,600. This represents a 2.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 450,214 shares of company stock worth $304,162,130 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $531.48 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $624.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $609.15. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.