Hardy Reed LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hardy Reed LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 26.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,464 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the period. Hardy Reed LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Advyzon Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,059,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 1,091,933 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $639,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,648 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 2,187 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,281,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the period. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 4,074 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,386,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unionview LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 1,089 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $638,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $673.70 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $650.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $594.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $686.28, for a total transaction of $417,258.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,361,815.60. The trade was a 6.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 813,030 shares of company stock valued at $525,952,077. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.