Barrier Capital Management LLC Has $11.19 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Barrier Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 19,108 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,724 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 9.0% of Barrier Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Barrier Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,188,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,928,185,000 after buying an additional 204,412 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,114,906 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,249,931,000 after purchasing an additional 206,502 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 15,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,075,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 50,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $29,724,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boltwood Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 4,245 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total transaction of $502,101.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,577 shares in the company, valued at $14,488,983.09. This trade represents a 3.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock valued at $167,207,524. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.45.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $597.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $575.29 and a 200-day moving average of $603.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $442.65 and a one year high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.19%.

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.