Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,340 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 973 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.8% of Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms recently commented on META. Needham & Company LLC reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $770.00 price target (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research 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 issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $713.07.
Get Our Latest Report on META
Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.1 %
Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $5.80 on Tuesday, reaching $510.45. The company had a trading volume of 27,776,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,526,506. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.34, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $645.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $610.47.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared 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 represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total transaction of $525,577.86. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total value of $342,322.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,507,676.90. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 534,820 shares of company stock worth $355,819,896 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
About Meta Platforms
(
Free Report)
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.
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