Howland Capital Management LLC Buys 863 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Howland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 95,433 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 863 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.4% of Howland Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $55,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 87,269.8% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,067,659 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,125,000 after buying an additional 1,066,437 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,662,000 after buying an additional 890,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $736.67 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $638.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $582.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 14,746 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.53, for a total transaction of $8,162,353.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 793,070 shares of company stock worth $504,185,108 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.