Hopwood Financial Services Inc. Takes $76,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 129 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $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% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. VeraBank N.A. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, LGL Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. LGL Partners LLC now owns 2,834 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,659,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. The trade was a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,035 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.63, for a total transaction of $13,631,512.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 654,355 shares of company stock valued at $428,564,164. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $607.60 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $658.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $603.80.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target 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. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.