Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Payden & Rygel

Payden & Rygel increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,610 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 800 shares during the quarter. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,969,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total transaction of $342,322.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,230 shares in the company, valued at $3,507,676.90. The trade was a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Two research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $504.73 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $648.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $609.75. The company has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 period last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

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.