J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. Has $29.66 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 26.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,648 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 10,717 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.8% of J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $29,655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 143,121 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $83,799,000 after buying an additional 14,848 shares in the last quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 60.1% during the fourth quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,265 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. HMV Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,855,000. Hilton Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2,836.9% during the fourth quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC now owns 26,256 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $15,373,000 after purchasing an additional 25,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Professional Planners LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 6,407 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,751,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $582.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $656.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $604.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. 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. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 631,415 shares of company stock worth $414,365,524. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.