Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by American Financial Advisors LLC

American Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,258 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the quarter. American Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after acquiring an additional 32,423 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Stockton increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keel Point LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,008,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $20.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $481.07. The stock had a trading volume of 25,192,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,158,529. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $494.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $397.43. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $207.13 and a 52 week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.00 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.54, for a total transaction of $7,568,131.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock valued at $677,574,550. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

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.