Hodges Capital Management Inc. Purchases 1,077 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,542 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,077 shares during the quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $2,918,698.12. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 8,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,943,375.40. This trade represents a 37.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 701,146 shares of company stock valued at $435,387,895 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $710.83.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $714.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $725.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $627.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $573.70.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.