Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC Acquires 27,837 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 38.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 99,472 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,837 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 4.0% of Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $58,242,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 342,662 shares of company stock worth $237,476,709. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $681.67.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $500.28 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $598.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $605.69. The company has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 prior year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms 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.