Herold Advisors Inc. Acquires 46 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Herold Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,165 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Herold Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,890,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 80.4% in the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on META. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total transaction of $228,664.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,026,880. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $404.00, for a total transaction of $228,664.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,026,880. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,349,148 shares of company stock worth $649,552,559. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $443.29 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $229.85 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $494.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $404.27. The company has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.33 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 11.49%.

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.