Hartline Investment Corp Buys 2,377 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hartline Investment Corp raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,614 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 2,377 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.1% of Hartline Investment Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Hartline Investment Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the period. LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $736.67 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $638.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $584.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on META shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned 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 target price of $717.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total value of $14,194,198.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 751,033 shares of company stock worth $480,911,671 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.