Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Has $16.96 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 139.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 28,971 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,860 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.1% of Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $16,963,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.5 %

META opened at $668.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $653.18 and its 200 day moving average is $596.59. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $23,212,039.50. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total value of $238,503.37. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 813,951 shares of company stock valued at $526,565,232 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.