Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 17 shares during the quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,569,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in 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 buying an additional 890,434 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 926.6% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $369,774,000 after acquiring an additional 661,923 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $616.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.04, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $381.16 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $598.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $558.31.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $651.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $6,147,531.12. The trade was a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 531,190 shares of company stock worth $322,938,501. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.