Mcdaniel Terry & Co. Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,187 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 4,074 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,386,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Unionview LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 1,089 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $638,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Sunpointe LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 2,925 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $201,000. Finally, Corps Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,968,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $538,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,738,325. The trade was a 2.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 813,030 shares of company stock worth $525,952,077 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $673.70 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.16, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $650.26 and a 200 day moving average of $594.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

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.