Axiom Advisory LLC Buys Shares of 594 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Axiom Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 594 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 80.4% during the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 68.9% during the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of META stock opened at $511.90 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $207.13 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $491.44 and a 200 day moving average of $393.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.51, for a total value of $253,089.90. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,167,719.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,460,035 shares of company stock valued at $691,937,607 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $414.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $502.75.

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.