Waterloo Capital L.P. Grows Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Waterloo Capital L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,259 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,836,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after buying an additional 110,040 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total value of $342,322.24. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,507,676.90. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,268,742.26. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 549,113 shares of company stock valued at $364,668,246. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 5.1 %

Shares of META opened at $504.73 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $648.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $610.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued 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, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

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.