Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Signet Financial Management LLC

Signet Financial Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,642 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Signet Financial Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Stockton increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Keel Point LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.3% during the third quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,008,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $269,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $499.76 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $207.13 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $493.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $396.01. The company has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.54, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial upped 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.28.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,439,788 shares of company stock valued at $684,542,792. Insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms 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.