Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Lifted by Kesler Norman & Wride LLC

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,133 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 976 shares during the quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on META shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.55.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. The trade was a 6.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 583,505 shares of company stock worth $385,495,911. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $586.00 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $653.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $610.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.