Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. Acquires Shares of 300 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 300 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 835,972 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $295,901,000 after purchasing an additional 163,067 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,576,285 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,265,862,000 after acquiring an additional 51,900 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 94.4% during the fourth quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,955,000 after acquiring an additional 4,054 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during 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 during the period. Finally, Voyager Global Management LP grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. Voyager Global Management LP now owns 515,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $182,289,000 after acquiring an additional 140,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 15,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,272,152.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Sheryl Sandberg sold 105,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $476.71, for a total transaction of $50,054,550.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 630,293 shares in the company, valued at $300,466,976.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,058 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.85, for a total value of $2,386,617.30. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 15,412 shares in the company, valued at $7,272,152.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 422,564 shares of company stock valued at $208,591,435 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on META shares. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. They set an “underperform” rating and a $360.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $506.63 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $274.38 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $480.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $444.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

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.