Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. Acquires Shares of 9,810 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,810 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,744,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total transaction of $10,320,386.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,888,979.95. The trade was a 28.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 14,746 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.53, for a total value of $8,162,353.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 793,070 shares of company stock valued at $504,185,108. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $736.67 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $638.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $582.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.36%.

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.