Seros Financial LLC Buys Shares of 473 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Seros Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 473 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,559,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the second quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,333 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,715,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 16.1% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 32,104 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,187,000 after purchasing an additional 4,452 shares during the period. Finally, Doheny Asset Management CA lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 20.3% in the second quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 1,276 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms 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 transaction of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 31,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,294 shares in the company, valued at $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ META opened at $647.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $601.93 and its 200-day moving average is $560.51. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $385.66 and a one year high of $652.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Sell-side 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders 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 is 9.42%.

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.