Cambridge Advisors Inc. Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cambridge Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,371 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Lindenwold Advisors INC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,569,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.6 %

META opened at $616.46 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $598.00 and a 200-day moving average of $558.31. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $381.16 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on META shares. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $651.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. Insiders sold 531,190 shares of company stock valued at $322,938,501 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.