Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV

Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 28.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,810 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% in the third quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.80.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.97, for a total value of $533,922.85. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,641,281.24. The trade was a 2.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $50,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,054,400. This trade represents a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 410,536 shares of company stock worth $249,024,275 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $610.72 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $592.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $552.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $355.36 and a twelve month high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.