Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV Purchases 65 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,160 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $679,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $70,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $605.71 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.32, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $657.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $601.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS 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 period last year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on META. Citigroup raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $622.24, for a total transaction of $22,351,483.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 725,081 shares of company stock valued at $472,702,625 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.