By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 454 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.
A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired 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 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group boosted 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. Finally, 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 research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Down 4.4 %
NASDAQ:META opened at $597.99 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $657.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $601.41. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $629.56, for a total value of $260,008.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 18,340 shares in the company, valued at $11,546,130.40. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 761,002 shares of company stock worth $495,449,598. 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.
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