Fisher Funds Management LTD Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 203,625 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,829,000. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 2.9% of Fisher Funds Management LTD’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 36,940 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $21,629,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 38,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $22,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,909 shares in the last quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL increased its position in Meta Platforms by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 6,687 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,915,000 after buying an additional 541 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 32,632 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $19,106,000 after buying an additional 1,685 shares during the period. Finally, Cypress Capital LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 707 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $414,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $538,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,738,325. This represents a 2.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total value of $238,503.37. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,068,173.34. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 813,951 shares of company stock valued at $526,565,232 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $668.20 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The business has a 50-day moving average of $653.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $596.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms 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.