Riverstone Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Riverstone Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 591 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WoodTrust Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 1,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 4,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,616,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 736 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.28.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $500.32. 5,416,335 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,081,217. The business has a 50 day moving average of $492.26 and a 200 day moving average of $394.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $207.13 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The company has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 13.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,459,469 shares of company stock valued at $691,726,161 over the last three months. 14.03% of the stock is owned by 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.