M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. Makes New $442,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 755 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $442,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. Willner & Heller LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. Willner & Heller LLC now owns 759 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $444,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 36.8% in the 4th quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 844 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $494,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 1,064 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Lincoln Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Lincoln Capital LLC now owns 886 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $519,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 90.5% during the fourth quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,040 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $15,421,000 after buying an additional 11,893 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 531,190 shares of company stock worth $322,938,501 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $651.27.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of META stock opened at $616.46 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $381.16 and a 1-year high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $598.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $558.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

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.