Benjamin Edwards Inc. Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,297 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,600 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $28,864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after buying an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $676.00, for a total transaction of $279,188.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,449 shares in the company, valued at $10,443,524. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total transaction of $502,101.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,488,983.09. This represents a 3.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.3 %

META opened at $597.02 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $442.65 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $575.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $603.80. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Securities reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.45.

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.