Highland Financial Advisors LLC Makes New $262,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Highland Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 740 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,011,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,733,182 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 88,542,953 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $25,410,057,000 after purchasing an additional 1,548,671 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,223,148,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $8.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $485.58. The stock had a trading volume of 15,212,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,086,339. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $202.54 and a 1 year high of $523.57. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $467.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $376.07.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.55, for a total value of $198,977.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,984 shares in the company, valued at $13,001,725.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,504,435 shares of company stock worth $703,629,367. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Citigroup raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $440.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $496.35.

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.