W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. Acquires 155 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 33.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 615 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 9,813 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,585 shares during the last quarter. CFC Planning Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $549,000. First Merchants Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 16,825 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,851,000 after buying an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Palacios Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $3,085,000. Finally, Arcus Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,660 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $694.84 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $645.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $589.12. 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 company has a market cap of $1.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.05, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 prior year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were 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 sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.