Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,951 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Two 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $652.98.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 567,111 shares of company stock worth $345,453,784 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.1 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $623.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $598.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $558.76. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $382.08 and a 52 week high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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 $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

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.