Traction Financial Partners LLC Takes $224,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Traction Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 382 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,565,134 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,758,146,000 after purchasing an additional 289,207 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total transaction of $238,503.37. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $668.13 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $647.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $593.08.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given 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 a consensus price target of $719.26.

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.