Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Increases Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 42.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,122 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 2,420 shares during the quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 worth $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in 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 buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. KeyCorp increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $710.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following 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. Insiders have sold a total of 700,241 shares of company stock worth $434,752,368 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $704.87 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $718.14. The business’s 50-day moving average is $621.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $571.15. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.36%.

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.