Granite Investment Partners LLC Purchases 211 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,902 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,922,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,219 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the period. Aldebaran Financial Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the third quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 2,853 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.5% during the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,048 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,480 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $701.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total transaction of $547,108.70. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,105 shares in the company, valued at $18,804,216.70. The trade was a 2.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $606.77, for a total value of $250,596.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 16,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,125,777.76. This trade represents a 2.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 487,453 shares of company stock worth $326,680,904 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.5 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $543.57 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $628.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $609.11. The firm has a market cap of $1.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 prior year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders 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 0.39%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.