Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 744 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fonville Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $304,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 11,119 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,936,000 after purchasing an additional 1,589 shares in the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,750 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,929,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Gray Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $250,000. Finally, AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 56,459 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $19,984,000 after acquiring an additional 8,427 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on META shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock valued at $677,574,550. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.5 %

META traded down $12.66 during trading on Friday, hitting $489.14. The company had a trading volume of 7,468,667 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,915,494. The company has a market cap of $1.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day moving average of $494.29 and a 200-day moving average of $397.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $207.13 and a 1-year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.00 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

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.