McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC Invests $205,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 350 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares in the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $235,872,000 after acquiring an additional 5,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $412,606,000 after acquiring an additional 91,773 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,215,915.50. This represents a 2.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was 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 ninety days, insiders sold 495,269 shares of company stock valued at $300,888,396. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $612.77 on Tuesday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $370.95 and a one year high of $638.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $597.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $557.77.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 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 company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend 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.