von Borstel & Associates Inc. Invests $259,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 442 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $596.25 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $655.38 and its 200 day moving average is $606.39. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Sell-side 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total value of $1,387,085.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total value of $545,235.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,820 shares in the company, valued at $20,375,535.40. The trade was a 2.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 622,431 shares of company stock valued at $408,968,491 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on META. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

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.