1,800 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Purchased by Parkside Investments LLC

Parkside Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,800 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,054,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.6 %

META opened at $687.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $387.10 and a 52 week high of $710.79. The business’s 50 day moving average is $611.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $564.44. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS 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 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total transaction of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,360,833.70. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 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 transaction of $2,918,698.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 8,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,943,375.40. The trade was a 37.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on META. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $706.76.

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.