Polymer Capital Management US LLC Purchases Shares of 737 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 737 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $432,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,164 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 27,760 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,254,000 after purchasing an additional 2,005 shares during the period. Trek Financial LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Trek Financial LLC now owns 3,774 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,210,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,340 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,298,000 after purchasing an additional 973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Westwood Wealth Management now owns 31,740 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $18,584,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $504.73 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $648.15 and a 200-day moving average of $610.77. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 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 $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,268,742.26. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 535,725 shares of company stock valued at $356,391,449 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.