Palumbo Wealth Management LLC Buys 1,019 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Palumbo Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 76.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares during the quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,373,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $683.62 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $647.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $591.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current 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. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. 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. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Company 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.