Junto Capital Management LP Has $41.02 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Junto Capital Management LP increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 23.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 70,063 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 13,355 shares during the quarter. Junto Capital Management LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $41,023,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. KKM Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. KKM Financial LLC now owns 15,431 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,035,000 after acquiring an additional 2,301 shares during the last quarter. Hyperion Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Hyperion Asset Management Ltd now owns 284,343 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $166,486,000 after purchasing an additional 33,958 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC now owns 4,593 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,689,000 after buying an additional 493 shares during the period. Greenline Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 106.0% during the fourth quarter. Greenline Partners LLC now owns 13,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,042,000 after buying an additional 7,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $303,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total value of $453,012.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,525,441.26. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares in the company, valued at $2,744,547.96. This trade represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 155,689 shares of company stock worth $109,097,842 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $592.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $568.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $604.50. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

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.