Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Quartz Partners LLC’s 6th Largest Position

Quartz Partners LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,367 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 2.6% of Quartz Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Quartz Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd 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 grew 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 buying an additional 1,066,437 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in 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 buying an additional 890,434 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,318,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,471,822,000 after acquiring an additional 550,852 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $665.75, for a total transaction of $613,155.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,212,039.50. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible 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 shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 813,538 shares of company stock worth $526,326,729. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $668.20 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $653.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $597.08. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

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.