Guardian Partners Inc. Invests $618,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,012 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $618,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,268,104 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,670,038,000 after purchasing an additional 26,396 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 585,605 shares of company stock worth $386,710,448. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of META stock opened at $619.55 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $655.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $607.11. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

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 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

About Meta Platforms

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.