Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Position Boosted by Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc.

Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,975 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 2.0% of Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,084,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after acquiring an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. United Bank grew its position in Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. Essential Planning LLC. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $251,000. Finally, Gilbert & Cook Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on META shares. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 622,844 shares of company stock valued at $409,212,161 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $586.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day moving average is $655.77 and its 200 day moving average is $604.56. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.