Banque de Luxembourg S.A. Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Banque de Luxembourg S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 924 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $543,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total transaction of $502,101.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,488,983.09. This trade represents a 3.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $555.54, for a total value of $337,768.32. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 3,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,109,940.92. This trade represents a 13.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on META shares. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of META stock opened at $597.02 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $575.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $603.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. 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 is currently 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.