296 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Purchased by Measured Risk Portfolios Inc.

Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 296 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $173,000.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $752.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $695.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $696.45.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.00, for a total transaction of $359,936.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 3,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,888,480. This trade represents a 16.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.52, for a total value of $545,710.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 25,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,201,693.12. This represents a 3.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 118,992 shares of company stock valued at $82,831,650. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $639.43 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $568.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $605.22. The stock has a market cap of $1.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS 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 $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.19%.

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.