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

Ferguson Shapiro LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 743 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Ferguson Shapiro LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $261,680,000 after purchasing an additional 112,047 shares during the period. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $254,766,000 after buying an additional 27,453 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 26.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,902 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $17,690,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Herbst Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 13.4% in the third quarter. Herbst Group LLC now owns 8,437 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,830,000 after buying an additional 999 shares during the period. Finally, WealthBridge Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.9% in the third quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,303,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 price objective (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $710.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $689.18 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $613.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $567.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $387.10 and a 52-week high of $710.79.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.44 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Meta Platforms 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.