D.A. Davidson & CO. Purchases 4,260 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 75,732 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,260 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $44,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 432,122 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $253,012,000 after buying an additional 10,741 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 901,242 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $527,686,000 after purchasing an additional 35,188 shares during the last quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 3,900 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,283,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV now owns 511 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Quarterback LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Quarterback LLC now owns 2,916 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,707,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 812,422 shares of company stock valued at $525,534,818. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded up $13.21 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $670.71. The company had a trading volume of 9,932,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,715,486. The business has a 50-day moving average of $648.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $594.06. The company has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.