Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. Invests $559,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 955 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $559,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 567,111 shares of company stock valued at $345,453,784. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $623.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $382.08 and a 52 week high of $638.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $598.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $558.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on META. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $652.98.

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.