Emerald Advisers LLC Has $3.19 Million Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Emerald Advisers LLC cut its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,443 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 118 shares during the quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares in the last quarter. United Bank lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. First County Bank CT boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. First County Bank CT now owns 2,316 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,326,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 23.5% in the third quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,520,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the firm’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 $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 585,605 shares of company stock valued at $386,710,448. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $619.55 on Tuesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $655.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $607.11. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a research note 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Company 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.