Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,268 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,868 shares during the quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $14,795,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
META stock traded up $14.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $674.33. The company had a trading volume of 20,910,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,580,293. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $387.10 and a 12 month high of $682.58. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $606.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $562.78. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.
Insider Activity at Meta Platforms
In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. The trade was a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.76, for a total transaction of $23,160,423.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 603,032 shares of company stock worth $368,666,614. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $654.20.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms
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.
See Also
Before you consider Meta Platforms, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Meta Platforms wasn't on the list.
While Meta Platforms currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Wondering where to start (or end) with AI stocks? These 10 simple stocks can help investors build long-term wealth as artificial intelligence continues to grow into the future.
Get This Free Report