Sterling Financial Group Inc. Purchases 24 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sterling Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,088 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the quarter. Sterling Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $927,000. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,786 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,144,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 478.3% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 202,702 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $118,684,000 after purchasing an additional 167,648 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 30,644 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $17,942,000 after buying an additional 1,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cvfg LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $1,001,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 31,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,804,216.70. The trade was a 2.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $616.16, for a total value of $22,133,083.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2 %

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

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given 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 is presently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

About Meta Platforms

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.