8,295 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Bought by SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co

SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 8,295 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,857,000. Meta Platforms comprises 4.8% of SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position.

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 stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.9 %

META opened at $607.60 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $658.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $603.80. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,035 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.63, for a total value of $13,631,512.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $547,995.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,649,280. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 654,355 shares of company stock worth $428,564,164 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.