Barden Capital Management Inc. Invests $841,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Barden Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,436 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $841,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 32,486 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $19,021,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 1,816 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,063,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Draper Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Draper Asset Management LLC now owns 13,821 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,339,000 after purchasing an additional 5,672 shares in the last quarter. Callan Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1,616.3% in the fourth quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 29,039 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $17,003,000 after purchasing an additional 27,347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Funds Management Co LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 2,636 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,543,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total transaction of $593,124.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,860,580. This trade represents a 2.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 725,081 shares of company stock valued at $472,702,625 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $657.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $601.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.32, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.