Intact Investment Management Inc. Acquires 12,500 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 231.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,900 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,500 shares during the quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,481,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $70,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $582.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $656.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $604.84.

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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total value of $6,075,554.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $547,995.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,024 shares in the company, valued at $19,649,280. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 631,415 shares of company stock valued at $414,365,524. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.