Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the quarter. Carl P. Sherr & Co. LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WoodTrust Financial Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 1,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 4,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 736 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total transaction of $7,513,615.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,585,110. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,439,788 shares of company stock valued at $684,542,792. Insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.28.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $2.91 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $496.85. The stock had a trading volume of 2,849,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,944,990. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $493.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $396.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.34, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $207.13 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

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.