Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,231 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,928,185,000 after buying an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,188,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,885,000. Finally, KKM Financial LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. KKM Financial LLC now owns 13,130 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,516,000 after acquiring an additional 988 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on META shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 585,605 shares of company stock valued at $386,710,448 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $626.31 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $656.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $608.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.