LRT Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

LRT Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 605 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $354,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,001,044,000 after buying an additional 1,229,350 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $592.49 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $568.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $604.75. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at $19,607,740.16. This trade represents a 3.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 119,894 shares of company stock worth $83,475,065 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.45.

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.