Edmp Inc. Acquires New Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Edmp Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 350 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after acquiring an additional 112,047 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Schubert & Co grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Schubert & Co now owns 580 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $214,000. Finally, Legacy Financial Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $736.67 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 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 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.36%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 751,033 shares of company stock valued at $480,911,671 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

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.