Custos Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 524 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $307,000.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Essential Planning LLC. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $251,000. Finally, Gilbert & Cook Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $204,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.9 %
NASDAQ META traded up $23.30 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $619.55. 15,717,566 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,812,137. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $655.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $606.39. The company has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The company 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. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.78%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Wolfe Research increased their price target 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. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $718.31.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Meta Platforms
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.46, for a total transaction of $21,712,807.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total value of $545,235.35. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,375,535.40. This trade represents a 2.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 622,431 shares of company stock worth $408,968,491 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
(
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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