Jericho Financial LLP Acquires New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Jericho Financial LLP bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 11,403 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,676,000. Meta Platforms comprises 4.8% of Jericho Financial LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $717.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $629.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $576.95.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $2,918,698.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 8,565 shares of the company’s stock, 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 the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total value of $10,320,386.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,888,979.95. The trade was a 28.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 756,735 shares of company stock valued at $475,285,232 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.