USA Financial Formulas Buys Shares of 2,125 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,125 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,244,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $235,872,000 after buying an additional 5,594 shares during the period. Finally, M&G PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $412,606,000 after buying an additional 91,773 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.9 %

META opened at $611.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $358.61 and a 12 month high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $595.92 and a 200 day moving average of $555.25.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total transaction of $520,103.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,612,808.90. The trade was a 2.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,147,531.12. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned 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, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

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.