Sulzberger Capital Advisors Inc. Buys New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sulzberger Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 497 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in 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 valued at $5,211,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of META stock opened at $549.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $578.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $603.67. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $427.11 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $555.54, for a total transaction of $337,768.32. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 3,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,109,940.92. This represents a 13.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 249,071 shares of company stock valued at $175,741,082. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $681.95.

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.