Scharf Investments LLC Acquires 149,287 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Scharf Investments LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4,086.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 152,940 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 149,287 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.7% of Scharf Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Scharf Investments LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $100,964,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westchester Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Bare Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 96 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 64.8% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,089 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.24, for a total value of $5,106,100.36. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 2,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,352.84. This represents a 74.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 56,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $644.70, for a total transaction of $36,471,323.70. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 160,931 shares of company stock valued at $102,997,526 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.61% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $573.02 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $635.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $657.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $479.80 and a twelve month high of $796.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The social networking company reported $8.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.16 by $0.72. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 30.08%.The firm had revenue of $59.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $8.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $770.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $1,117.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $825.00 to $775.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $860.00 price objective (up from $750.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $843.57.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.