6,784 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Bought by Antonelli Financial Advisors LLC

Antonelli Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 6,784 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,972,000. Meta Platforms comprises about 3.4% of Antonelli Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballast Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 3,849 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,254,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 37,777 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $22,119,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 77,001 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $45,085,000 after buying an additional 4,879 shares during the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 605 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 6,610 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,870,000 after buying an additional 1,435 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $596.25 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $655.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $605.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total transaction of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. The trade was a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 622,844 shares of company stock worth $409,212,161. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

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.