Martin Worley Group Makes New $678,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Martin Worley Group acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,157 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $678,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Disciplined Investors L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $293,000. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 11,646 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,819,000 after buying an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 39.3% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 2,386 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,397,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the period. Cinctive Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $5,377,000. Finally, Bryce Point Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $507,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $611.10, for a total value of $21,951,323.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total transaction of $342,322.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,507,676.90. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 584,113 shares of company stock valued at $385,838,234. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $725.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of META stock opened at $583.93 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two 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 $653.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $610.50. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

About Meta Platforms

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.