Bleakley Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 63,976 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.1% of Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $37,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 756,735 shares of company stock worth $475,285,232 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $719.80 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $631.85 and a 200-day moving average of $578.74. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $725.01.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.36%.

Meta Platforms 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.