Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC Invests $263,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 744 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Gilfoyle & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 2,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $958,392.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,757,883.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock valued at $677,574,550 in the last ninety days. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of META stock traded down $12.66 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $489.14. 7,468,667 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,915,494. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $494.29 and its 200-day moving average is $397.43. The company has a market cap of $1.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. 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 announced 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

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.