Investment Management Corp of Ontario Purchases 12,583 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Investment Management Corp of Ontario lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 148,750 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,583 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 2.9% of Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $87,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Investor s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $802,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 62.7% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 672,367 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $393,678,000 after purchasing an additional 259,152 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,646 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $964,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP grew its position in Meta Platforms by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. Junto Capital Management LP now owns 70,063 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,023,000 after purchasing an additional 13,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KKM Financial LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. KKM Financial LLC now owns 15,431 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,035,000 after purchasing an additional 2,301 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $592.49 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $442.65 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The business’s fifty day moving average is $568.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $604.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,199,589.06. The trade was a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,795 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $715.82, for a total value of $25,622,776.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 155,689 shares of company stock worth $109,097,842 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $695.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $696.45.

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.