Blossom Wealth Management Makes New $201,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Blossom Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 344 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $704.87 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $718.14. The company has a market cap of $1.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $621.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $571.15.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 last year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 700,241 shares of company stock worth $434,752,368. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $710.83.

About Meta Platforms

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.