MFG Wealth Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

MFG Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,379 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,149,000. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.9% of MFG Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.8 %

META stock opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $643.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $587.57. The company has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,362,687. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total value of $14,445,949.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 770,701 shares of company stock worth $495,357,621 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

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.