Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Global Retirement Partners LLC

Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,603 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 3,615 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.7% of Global Retirement Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Global Retirement Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $24,944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $770.00 price target (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $657.50 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $648.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $594.06.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total value of $238,503.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,068,173.34. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Company 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.

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