Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Cornerstone Advisors LLC

Cornerstone Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 89,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.1% of Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $52,110,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares during the period. United Bank raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 22,196 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $12,706,000 after acquiring an additional 1,588 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,331 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $762,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $607.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $658.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $603.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $547,995.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,024 shares in the company, valued at $19,649,280. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,199,589.06. This trade represents a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 690,689 shares of company stock valued at $451,269,409. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.