Safeguard Financial LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Safeguard Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:METAFree Report) by 92.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,296 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the quarter. Safeguard Financial LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $759,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd 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 during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 890,434 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 926.6% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $369,774,000 after acquiring an additional 661,923 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. JMP Securities increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

Get Our Latest Research Report on META

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 495,682 shares of company stock worth $301,101,199 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of META stock opened at $617.12 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $595.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $554.81. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $358.61 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. 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 (NASDAQ:METAGet Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

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