Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Buys 368 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,290 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.9% of Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. Lindenwold Advisors INC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Central Valley Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.6 %

META opened at $687.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $387.10 and a twelve month high of $710.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $611.00 and a 200-day moving average of $564.44.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $706.76.

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.