Smith Moore & CO. Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Smith Moore & CO. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,491 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the quarter. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 549,113 shares of company stock valued at $364,668,246 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on META shares. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $790.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 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 issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $531.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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 moving average is $651.00 and its 200-day moving average is $609.95. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.