Hobbs Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 812 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $475,000. Meta Platforms makes up 0.5% of Hobbs Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,219 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,842,000 after buying an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the third quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 2,853 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,633,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,048 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $9,704,000 after buying an additional 1,480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.39, for a total value of $500,462.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,943,062.60. The trade was a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 451,119 shares of company stock worth $304,709,239 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.2 %
Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $12.09 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $531.48. 14,042,366 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,773,770. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $628.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $609.40.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is currently 8.78%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $692.93.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on META
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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