Cooper Financial Group Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cooper Financial Group boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 53.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,162 shares during the quarter. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after buying an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,754,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,911,029,000 after acquiring an additional 208,677 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $9.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $606.70. The company had a trading volume of 7,311,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,447,462. The company has a 50 day moving average of $593.63 and a 200-day moving average of $553.55. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $358.61 and a 52 week high of $638.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, November 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 411,357 shares of company stock worth $249,545,428. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.