Berry Wealth Group LP Acquires New Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Berry Wealth Group LP acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,170 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $414,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11,154.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,952,254 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,752,900,000 after buying an additional 4,908,251 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 55.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,632,631 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,591,602,000 after buying an additional 3,093,715 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1,457.5% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,156,360 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,117,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $834,315,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.4 %

META traded up $6.15 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $436.32. 8,380,350 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,300,221. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $229.85 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $492.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $406.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total value of $216,354.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,913,722.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,257,291 shares of company stock valued at $612,916,087. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on META shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.18.

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.