Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Purchases 5,169 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Freestone Capital Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,053 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,169 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.3% of Freestone Capital Holdings LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $38,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares during the period. Presidio Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Presidio Capital Management LLC now owns 661 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 86,644 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $49,598,000 after acquiring an additional 4,721 shares during the period. Finally, Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. now owns 741 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’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 transaction of $593,124.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,860,580. The trade was a 2.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business’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 value of $13,554,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. This trade represents a 6.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 725,081 shares of company stock valued at $472,702,625. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. The stock 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month 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 50-day moving average of $657.45 and a 200 day moving average of $601.96.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

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.