Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Hemington Wealth Management

Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,973 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after purchasing an additional 112,047 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the third quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.3% in the third quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,985 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,854,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Finally, Veracity Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.7% in the third quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 3,394 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,943,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on META shares. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Two equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total value of $14,445,949.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 770,701 shares of company stock worth $495,357,621. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.93, a P/E/G 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. The business has a 50-day moving average of $643.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $587.57. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.