Verum Partners LLC Buys 33 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Verum Partners LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 644 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Verum Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Central Valley Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $647.49 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $601.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $560.12. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $385.66 and a 12-month high of $652.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,776,261.56. This trade represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on META shares. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

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.