Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Brand Asset Management Group Inc.

Brand Asset Management Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 461 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Brand Asset Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total value of $547,108.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 31,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,804,216.70. The trade was a 2.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JMP Securities raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $612.77 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $596.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $556.71. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $370.95 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.