Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Lam Group Inc.

Lam Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 900 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the quarter. Lam Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $636.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $600.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $559.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $385.66 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. 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 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,010 shares in the company, valued at $20,215,915.50. The trade was a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $654.20.

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.