Van Strum & Towne Inc. Acquires 100 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Van Strum & Towne Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 25.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 486 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Van Strum & Towne Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VeraBank N.A. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total transaction of $6,075,554.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 631,415 shares of company stock worth $414,365,524. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $582.36 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $656.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $604.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

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.