Darden Wealth Group Inc Acquires 289 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Darden Wealth Group Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 37.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,064 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Darden Wealth Group Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 122.2% during the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $49,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 221.9% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $559.14 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.34, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $313.66 and a 12 month high of $602.95. The company’s 50 day moving average is $572.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $524.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $345,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,992 shares in the company, valued at $11,135,544. This represents a 3.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 168,843 shares of company stock worth $92,083,554. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.10.

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.