Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Bfsg LLC

Bfsg LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 58.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,265 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,198 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Bluesphere Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.2% in the third quarter. Bluesphere Advisors LLC now owns 917 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.1% in the third quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,580 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $18,487,000 after purchasing an additional 4,590 shares during the period. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.5% during the third quarter. ERTS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,737 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $521,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Essex LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 36.2% during the third quarter. Essex LLC now owns 5,375 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,614,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 7.0% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,044 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,415,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total transaction of $245,578.20. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,552,865.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.18, for a total value of $245,578.20. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,089 shares in the company, valued at $3,552,865.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449 in the last ninety days. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of META traded down $2.60 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $493.50. 33,517,070 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,341,254. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $207.13 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $495.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $402.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.00 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research 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 given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.28.

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.