True North Advisors LLC Has $1.36 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

True North Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,329 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 190 shares during the quarter. True North Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,364,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $647.49 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $601.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $560.33. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $385.66 and a 52-week high of $652.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total transaction of $559,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,663,600. This trade represents a 2.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $652,767.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,229 shares in the company, valued at $709,329.64. This represents a 47.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $654.20.

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.