Davis Investment Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Davis Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 327 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares during the period. BOKF NA grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.6% in the second quarter. BOKF NA now owns 93,311 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $47,049,000 after purchasing an additional 4,958 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the second quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 241,610 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $121,825,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095 shares in the last quarter. PFG Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.6% during the second quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 8,417 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,244,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.9% in the 2nd quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,025 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 423,427 shares of company stock worth $256,996,450 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $608.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $594.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $554.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $358.61 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

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.