Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Ignite Planners LLC

Ignite Planners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,650 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.0% of Ignite Planners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Ignite Planners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,625,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $617.12 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $358.61 and a 1-year high of $638.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The business has a 50-day moving average of $595.02 and a 200-day moving average of $554.81.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total transaction of $520,103.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,387 shares in the company, valued at $18,612,808.90. This represents a 2.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 495,682 shares of company stock worth $301,101,199 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

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.