Capital Square LLC Has $510,000 Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Capital Square LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 43.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 787 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Capital Square LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 34.7% during the 4th quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 11,466 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,713,000 after acquiring an additional 2,953 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 28,716 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,814,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the last quarter. MSH Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $785,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 195,574 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $114,510,000 after purchasing an additional 26,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everest Management Corp. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $535,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $686.83.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.7 %

META opened at $502.31 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $616.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $607.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.00, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at $209,199,589.06. This trade represents a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $613.85, for a total value of $22,050,105.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 414,901 shares of company stock valued at $282,367,368. Corporate 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.