Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC Buys 973 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,340 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 973 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.8% of Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after buying an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,211,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892,509 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 5.1 %

Shares of META stock opened at $504.73 on Friday. 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $648.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $610.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total value 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. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246. 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.