WestHill Financial Advisors Inc. Makes New $248,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WestHill Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 700 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WoodTrust Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 1,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 4,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Edge Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 736 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of META traded up $17.28 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $511.45. The stock had a trading volume of 6,233,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,931,227. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $207.13 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $493.65 and a 200 day moving average of $396.70. The company has a market cap of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.53.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total transaction of $3,500,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,086,721.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock valued at $684,796,490. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.