Certuity LLC Buys 1,324 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Certuity LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,244 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,324 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.8% of Certuity LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Certuity LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $61,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 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 issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $736.67 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $641.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $585.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 prior year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total transaction of $14,194,198.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 751,033 shares of company stock worth $480,911,671. Insiders own 13.71% 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.