Pennington Partners & CO. LLC Buys Shares of 2,223 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pennington Partners & CO. LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,223 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,302,000. Meta Platforms accounts for 0.6% of Pennington Partners & CO. LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $572.21 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $432.28 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $576.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $603.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total transaction of $296,813.44. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $696.23, for a total value of $9,033,584.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 197,996 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $137,850,755.08. This represents a 6.15 % 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 valued at $167,207,524 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $846.00 to $918.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $688.63.

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.