Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by YHB Investment Advisors Inc.

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $706.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the business’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 transaction of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at $17,360,833.70. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of META stock opened at $689.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $387.10 and a 1 year high of $710.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $613.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $565.78.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 39.74%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.44 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. 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 (DPR) is 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.