937 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Acquired by CFC Planning Co LLC

CFC Planning Co LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 937 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $549,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,569,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $717.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total value of $13,830,734.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded down $7.49 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $687.35. 9,296,446 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,553,415. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.20. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $645.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $589.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.36%.

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.