Centerpoint Advisory Group Takes $543,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Centerpoint Advisory Group bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 928 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $543,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 76.8% during the 4th quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,345 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares during the period. bLong Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $2,994,000. Everhart Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.0% in the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,954,000 after buying an additional 4,124 shares during the period. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Lakeridge Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TigerOak Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $347,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Roth Mkm increased their price objective 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. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lifted 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. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total transaction of $511,596.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,362,687. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $683.62 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. 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. 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’s fifty day moving average is $647.09 and its 200-day moving average is $591.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.36%.

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.