Betterment LLC Acquires 60 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Betterment LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 545 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the quarter. Betterment LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $549.74 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $583.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $604.40. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $427.11 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 previous year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 4,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This represents a 8.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade 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 284,384 shares of company stock valued at $199,598,622 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $681.95.

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.