Partners in Financial Planning Purchases Shares of 617 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Partners in Financial Planning acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 617 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $361,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,243,603,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,509 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $576.74 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $655.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $609.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $627.05, for a total transaction of $577,513.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,552,673.10. This trade represents a 2.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at $209,199,589.06. This represents a 6.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 584,410 shares of company stock valued at $386,031,454. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

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.