Greenwood Gearhart Inc. Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Greenwood Gearhart Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 28,716 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.2% of Greenwood Gearhart Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Greenwood Gearhart Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $521.52 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $621.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $608.54. The company has a market cap of $1.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.80, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. This is a positive change 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 (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $255,234.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 16,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,057,950. The trade was a 2.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $559,290.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,663,600. This trade represents a 2.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 414,293 shares of company stock valued at $282,029,046. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. Wedbush reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $690.79.

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.