2,700 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Bought by Caldwell Investment Management Ltd.

Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,700 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,594,000. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.1% of Caldwell Investment Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. Wiser Wealth Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. Wiser Wealth Management Inc now owns 765 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 2,532 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 56,944 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,341,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 19,804 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $11,596,000 after acquiring an additional 1,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Community Trust NA boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 7,970 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,667,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total transaction of $520,103.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,612,808.90. This trade represents a 2.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $611.30 on Friday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $595.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $555.25. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $358.61 and a 1-year high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.