King Luther Capital Management Corp Acquires 12,897 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 130,413 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,897 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $76,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $70,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $607.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $658.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $603.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share 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 given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $547,995.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,024 shares in the company, valued at $19,649,280. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 690,689 shares of company stock valued at $451,269,409 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.