Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV Purchases 29 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 511 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Droms Strauss Advisors Inc. MO ADV’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. VeraBank N.A. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,362,687. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total transaction of $238,503.37. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,068,173.34. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 809,804 shares of company stock worth $523,576,440 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $683.62 on Monday. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $647.09 and its 200-day moving average is $591.96. The company has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. 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 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial lifted 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. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

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.