Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC Has $3.91 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 33.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,677 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 3,342 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.0% of Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,727,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,211,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $597.14 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $570.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $603.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Guggenheim raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $696.45.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.00, for a total value of $359,936.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,888,480. This represents a 16.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 210,357 shares of company stock valued at $148,449,468 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.