1,666 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Acquired by Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,666 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $975,000. Meta Platforms makes up about 0.9% of Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $610.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $656.12 and a 200 day moving average of $608.02. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 586,213 shares of company stock worth $387,084,349 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.