Scotia Capital Inc. Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Scotia Capital Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 374,036 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,611 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.2% of Scotia Capital Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $219,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares during the period. Wilson & Boucher Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wilson & Boucher Capital Management LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $630,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Financial Avengers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Avengers Inc. now owns 1,017 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $582,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 13,570 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,768,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $615.41, for a total transaction of $7,984,944.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 381,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $234,649,678.90. The trade was a 3.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 499,507 shares of company stock worth $334,165,387 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $708.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $585.77 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.49, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $634.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $609.40. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

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.