Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Purchases 77,217 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 159.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 125,774 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 77,217 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.5% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $73,641,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,035 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.63, for a total value of $13,631,512.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total value of $243,670.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,576,930. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 653,450 shares of company stock worth $427,997,036. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $604.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $657.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $604.41. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.