ORG Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

ORG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 22.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,143 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,011,920,000 after buying an additional 1,733,182 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after buying an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,223,148,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,906,009,000 after buying an additional 946,871 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.2 %

META opened at $511.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $207.13 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $491.44 and a 200 day moving average of $392.56.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.58, for a total transaction of $211,446.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,393,590.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,460,035 shares of company stock valued at $691,937,607 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on META. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $385.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $502.75.

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.