Lam Group Inc. Acquires 125 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Lam Group Inc. increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 900 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Lam Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $636.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $600.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $559.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $385.66 and a 52-week high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $654.20.

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.