Ardmore Road Asset Management LP Buys 10,000 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ardmore Road Asset Management LP boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 90,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 7.7% of Ardmore Road Asset Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Ardmore Road Asset Management LP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $52,696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,344,552,000 after buying an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned 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, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $586.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $653.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $610.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.50, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were 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 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the sale, the insider now owns 31,182 shares in the company, valued at $19,552,673.10. The trade was a 2.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 583,505 shares of company stock worth $385,495,911. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.