Verum Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 627 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Verum Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 627 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $66,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.5% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,244,201 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $499,020,000 after acquiring an additional 249,926 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 284.0% in the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $746,000 after acquiring an additional 2,482 shares in the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $813,000. Finally, Oxford Financial Group Ltd. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 26.9% during the 1st quarter. Oxford Financial Group Ltd. now owns 1,888 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.29, for a total transaction of $295,594.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 39,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,993,314.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,504,435 shares of company stock valued at $703,629,367 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $4.71 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $489.15. 9,265,531 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,803,041. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $464.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $375.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $202.54 and a fifty-two week high of $523.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $527.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $496.35.

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.