PDS Planning Inc Buys 132 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

PDS Planning Inc raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,950 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,826,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $586.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $655.77 and a 200 day moving average of $604.56. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total transaction of $243,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,576,930. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 622,844 shares of company stock valued at $409,212,161. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given 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 a consensus target price of $718.31.

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.