Palouse Capital Management Inc. Buys 65 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the quarter. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, 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 value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total transaction of $13,830,734.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $683.62 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $647.09 and a 200-day moving average of $591.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

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.