By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
CFC Planning Co LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 937 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $549,000.
A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. First Merchants Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 16,825 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,851,000 after buying an additional 576 shares during the period. Palacios Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,085,000. Arcus Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,660 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,237 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,066,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares during the period. Finally, Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,519 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,475,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.
Insider Activity at Meta Platforms
In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms have commented on META. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating 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 issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.
Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.8 %
Shares of META opened at $703.77 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.42, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $644.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $588.38.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal 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 is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.
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.
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