Elm3 Financial Group LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Elm3 Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 599 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $351,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $719.80 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $631.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $578.74. 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 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $725.01.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 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. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $2,918,698.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 8,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,943,375.40. This represents a 37.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 756,735 shares of company stock worth $475,285,232 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.