Ground Swell Capital LLC Takes Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 517 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at $19,607,740.16. This trade represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total value of $199,626.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,265,707.52. This represents a 8.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,689 shares of company stock worth $109,097,842 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on META. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Pivotal Research reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $628.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $592.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.77, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $568.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $604.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $442.65 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

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.