Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. Purchases Shares of 384 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 384 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $38,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 122.2% in the second quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 80 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $575.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $635.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 214,002 shares of company stock worth $126,740,653. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock traded down $0.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $629.86. 635,021 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,708,805. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $328.64 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The business’s 50-day moving average is $583.48 and its 200-day moving average is $536.44. 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 has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Meta Platforms 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.