one8zero8 LLC Acquires New Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

one8zero8 LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,460 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $855,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $582.36 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $656.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $604.84.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $547,995.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,024 shares in the company, valued at $19,649,280. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 631,415 shares of company stock worth $414,365,524 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Argus set a $775.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

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.