Candriam S.C.A. Acquires 31,320 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Candriam S.C.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 19.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 191,420 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,320 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.6% of Candriam S.C.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $112,078,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. VeraBank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, LGL Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. LGL Partners LLC now owns 2,834 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,659,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,199,589.06. This represents a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total value of $593,124.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,860,580. This trade represents a 2.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 725,081 shares of company stock valued at $472,702,625 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $657.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $601.96. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.