Kieckhefer Group LLC Takes Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 277 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $162,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 411,357 shares of company stock worth $249,545,428. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Barclays increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $647.98.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $12.45 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $603.41. The stock had a trading volume of 4,964,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,075,411. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $593.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $553.55. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $358.61 and a 52-week high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

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.