First Financial Group Corp Invests $208,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Financial Group Corp purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 356 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $582.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $656.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $604.84.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. 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 (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total transaction of $6,075,554.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 631,415 shares of company stock worth $414,365,524 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

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.