Delta Financial Advisors LLC Buys 213 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Delta Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,704 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 213 shares during the quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $61,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price 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 assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.0 %

META stock opened at $655.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $654.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $597.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,946 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $621.84, for a total value of $14,268,740.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. This trade represents a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 796,712 shares of company stock worth $517,503,564 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.