Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Buys Shares of 1,666 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,666 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $975,000. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.9% of Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VeraBank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $610.98 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $656.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $608.02. 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 market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly 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 in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total value of $373,901.76. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,205,164.86. This represents a 8.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total value of $1,387,085.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 586,213 shares of company stock worth $387,084,349 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. DA Davidson raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued 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, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

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.