Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Versant Capital Management Inc

Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 32.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,684 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,157,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.7% in the second quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,658 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,870,000 after acquiring an additional 935 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,480 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,771,000 after buying an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 846 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 101.2% in the second quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,199 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.5% during the second quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,910 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,484,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 518,424 shares in the company, valued at $311,054,400. The trade was a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total value of $533,850.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,172,468.33. The trade was a 2.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 327,116 shares of company stock worth $198,171,544. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $640.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $599.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $343.17 and a 52-week high of $638.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $589.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $548.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

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.