Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Strengthening Families & Communities LLC

Strengthening Families & Communities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,220 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $715,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position 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 third quarter worth approximately $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at $21,362,687. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 751,033 shares of company stock valued at $480,911,671. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $736.67 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $638.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $584.28. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a PEG ratio of 1.46 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. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS 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 represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

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.