By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 696 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $408,000.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. PCG Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $866,000. Mitchell Capital Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Mitchell Capital Management Co. now owns 28,413 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $16,636,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 801 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $469,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 67.9% during the fourth quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 806 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $472,000 after buying an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 582,789 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $341,229,000 after purchasing an additional 192,929 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.
Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4 %
META stock opened at $625.66 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day moving average is $656.39 and its 200-day moving average is $599.31. 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 (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research analysts have commented on META shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Meta Platforms
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 775,295 shares of company stock worth $504,237,715 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.
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.
See Also
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