Lodestone Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought 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 SEC. The firm bought 3,426 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $2,006,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $11.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $683.62. 15,609,265 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,022,064. The company has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $647.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $590.57.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.07, for a total value of $447,530.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 9,878 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,270,899.46. The trade was a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Profile

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.