Kera Capital Partners Inc. Takes Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,063 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $622,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Smith Salley Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 81,015 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $47,435,000 after purchasing an additional 3,233 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC now owns 1,851 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,084,000 after buying an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 2,759 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,926 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $10,496,000 after acquiring an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,059 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,079 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $651.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total value of $547,108.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,804,216.70. The trade was a 2.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 495,269 shares of company stock valued at $300,888,396 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $3.69 on Tuesday, hitting $616.46. The company had a trading volume of 11,584,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,100,104. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.04, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $381.16 and a 52 week high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $597.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $557.77.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

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.