Albion Financial Group UT Purchases 540 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Albion Financial Group UT increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 42.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,812 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Trust Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 2,831 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,658,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 6,919 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,052,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 33.7% in the fourth quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 8,275 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,845,000 after buying an additional 2,085 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 100,814 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $59,027,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Finally, Corepath Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Corepath Wealth Partners LLC now owns 419 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

META stock traded up $11.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $647.49. The company had a trading volume of 19,039,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,840,293. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $601.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $560.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $385.66 and a 52-week high of $652.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at $18,262,708.20. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $654.20.

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.