Austin Asset Management Co Inc Buys 109 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Austin Asset Management Co Inc lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,726 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Austin Asset Management Co Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $728.56 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $729.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $636.47 and a 200-day moving average of $580.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total transaction of $10,320,386.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,888,979.95. The trade was a 28.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 793,070 shares of company stock worth $504,185,108 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

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.