Forbes J M & Co. LLP Acquires 232 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Forbes J M & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,463 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 232 shares during the quarter. Forbes J M & Co. LLP’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 34,643 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $20,284,000 after buying an additional 3,431 shares in the last quarter. Serenus Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $793,000. Arlington Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Arlington Financial Advisors LLC now owns 649 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 3,825 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,240,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 42,023 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,605,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total value of $10,320,386.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,769 shares in the company, valued at $25,888,979.95. This represents a 28.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total transaction of $14,194,198.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 793,070 shares of company stock worth $504,185,108 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $728.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $636.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $580.80. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $729.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on META shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

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.