Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $2.24 Billion in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,831,878 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,243,603,000. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.8% of Raymond James Financial Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 97.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 144 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total transaction of $500,462.19. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,943,062.60. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 450,214 shares of company stock valued at $304,162,130 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $531.48 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $624.88 and its 200 day moving average is $609.15. The company has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS 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 prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $692.93.

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.