EdgeRock Capital LLC Grows Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

EdgeRock Capital LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,469 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.9% of EdgeRock Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. EdgeRock Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after purchasing an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,437 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,662,000 after purchasing an additional 890,434 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,318,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,471,822,000 after purchasing an additional 550,852 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.0 %

META opened at $655.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $654.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $597.91. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 796,712 shares of company stock worth $517,503,564. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.