Hutchinson Capital Management CA Grows Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hutchinson Capital Management CA raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 425 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after acquiring an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $2,243,603,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,662,000 after purchasing an additional 890,434 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $584.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $656.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $604.69.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total transaction of $6,075,554.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 632,023 shares of company stock valued at $414,734,884. 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.