Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Has $1.59 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,493 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,590,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Stockton grew its position in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Keel Point LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 6.3% in the third quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,008,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $269,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $499.76 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $207.13 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $493.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $396.01.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.00 EPS. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 13.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total transaction of $7,513,615.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,439,788 shares of company stock worth $684,542,792 in the last quarter. 14.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.28.

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.