Morris Financial Concepts Inc. Purchases 22 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Morris Financial Concepts Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,088 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 22 shares during the quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Howard Bailey Securities LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Howard Bailey Securities LLC now owns 602 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in Meta Platforms by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,973 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,155,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 1,964 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,150,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Park Capital Management LLC WI acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $566,000. Finally, Castle Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,380 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,393,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $643.13 and a 200-day moving average of $587.57. The company has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,362,687. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 770,701 shares of company stock worth $495,357,621 in the last three months. Company 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.