3,309 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Acquired by Miller Financial Services LLC

Miller Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,309 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,938,000. Meta Platforms comprises 1.6% of Miller Financial Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $607.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $658.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $603.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 period last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total value of $535,542.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,477,780.40. The trade was a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 690,689 shares of company stock worth $451,269,409 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on META. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective for the company 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 assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

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.