Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Harvard Management Co. Inc.’s Largest Position

Harvard Management Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,302,881 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 112,500 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 45.2% of Harvard Management Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Harvard Management Co. Inc. owned 0.05% of Meta Platforms worth $762,850,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $549.74 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average of $583.92 and a 200 day moving average of $604.40. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $427.11 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 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 0.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Pivotal Research raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wedbush dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $681.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total value of $453,012.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,525,441.26. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $696.39, for a total transaction of $9,035,660.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 210,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $146,918,094.69. This trade represents a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 284,384 shares of company stock valued at $199,598,622 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.