Prospect Financial Group LLC Acquires Shares of 1,311 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Prospect Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,311 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $768,000. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.9% of Prospect Financial Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $718.31.

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Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.3 %

NASDAQ:META traded down $25.84 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $576.74. 17,561,028 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,238,405. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $655.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $609.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total transaction of $243,323.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,318,548.24. The trade was a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total value of $577,513.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 31,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,552,673.10. This trade represents a 2.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 584,823 shares of company stock valued at $386,274,777. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

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.