Morris Financial Concepts Inc. Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Morris Financial Concepts Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,088 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Morris Financial Concepts Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total value of $14,445,949.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 770,701 shares of company stock valued at $495,357,621 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on META shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $643.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $587.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.36%.

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.