Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Hoey Investments Inc.

Hoey Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 119,431 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 11,578 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 11.8% of Hoey Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Hoey Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $69,928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Axiom Investors LLC DE raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 1,908,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,117,712,000 after purchasing an additional 316,377 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 93,014 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $54,461,000 after buying an additional 6,370 shares during the last quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,610 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,285,000 after buying an additional 781 shares during the period. Partners in Financial Planning bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $361,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 227,738 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $133,343,000 after acquiring an additional 31,194 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on META shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total transaction of $252,797.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,101 shares in the company, valued at $10,467,522.10. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the 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 $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 584,410 shares of company stock worth $386,031,454. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.3 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $576.74 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 price of $655.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $609.90.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. 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 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.