Lynx Investment Advisory Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lynx Investment Advisory increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,794 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 231 shares during the quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,051,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $626.31 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $656.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $608.00. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s 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 sold 585,605 shares of company stock valued at $386,710,448 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

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.