Darden Wealth Group Inc Buys 560 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Darden Wealth Group Inc increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 52.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the quarter. Darden Wealth Group Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $504.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $648.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $610.27. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total transaction of $252,797.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,467,522.10. The trade was a 2.36 % 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,268,742.26. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.