Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by SlateStone Wealth LLC

SlateStone Wealth LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 34.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,244 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 839 shares during the quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. National Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 5,287 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,871,000 after buying an additional 1,981 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 5,633 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,994,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $79,212,000 after purchasing an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 39.9% during the fourth quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 3,318 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 4,873,847 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,725,147,000 after purchasing an additional 309,497 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $555.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.0 %

META traded up $14.61 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $496.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,107,216 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,067,014. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $207.13 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.10, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $494.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $401.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.00 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,853,183.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total value of $291,675.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,853,183.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 2,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $958,392.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,757,883.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,391,935 shares of company stock worth $666,288,408 in the last 90 days. 14.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.