Roble Belko & Company Inc Acquires 25 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Roble Belko & Company Inc grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 230 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares in the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $235,872,000 after buying an additional 5,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $412,606,000 after buying an additional 91,773 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at $21,416,908.60. This trade represents a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $616.16, for a total transaction of $22,133,083.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.9 %

META stock opened at $611.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $595.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $555.25. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $358.61 and a 12 month high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.