Davidson Investment Advisors Buys New Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Davidson Investment Advisors purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 405 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $261,680,000 after buying an additional 112,047 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 853 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC now owns 68,702 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,328,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 100,448 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $57,501,000 after purchasing an additional 4,735 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $668.13 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $647.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $593.08. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase 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 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total transaction of $238,503.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,068,173.34. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.