Reliant Investment Management LLC Takes $249,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Reliant Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 426 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,938,574 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $977,468,000 after acquiring an additional 7,539 shares during the period. Blankinship & Foster LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $352,000. Unisphere Establishment lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 235.0% in the second quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 33,500 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,891,000 after acquiring an additional 23,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wick Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wick Capital Partners LLC now owns 598 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,262,708.20. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $636.45 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $385.66 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $600.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $559.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

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.