ERn Financial LLC Acquires 278 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

ERn Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,426 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the quarter. ERn Financial LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,911,029,000 after buying an additional 208,677 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $611.30 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $595.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $555.25. 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 52-week low of $358.61 and a 52-week high of $638.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total transaction of $520,103.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,612,808.90. This represents a 2.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total value of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,147,531.12. The trade was a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

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.