Bryce Point Capital LLC Invests $507,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bryce Point Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 866 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $507,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 9.0 %

NASDAQ META opened at $531.62 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week 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 $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $651.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $609.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.42, for a total transaction of $8,023,999.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 420,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $259,869,360.30. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,507,676.90. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 549,113 shares of company stock valued at $364,668,246. Company 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.