LM Advisors LLC Has $7.86 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LM Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,430 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 387 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.3% of LM Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. LM Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after buying an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several research reports. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $602.58 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $655.95 and a 200 day moving average of $607.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG 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 has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at $209,199,589.06. This represents a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 584,823 shares of company stock worth $386,274,777 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.