Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Sandbox Financial Partners LLC

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 49.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,940 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 971 shares during the period. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $4,223,148,000. Morgan Stanley acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $4,072,543,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $1,796,633,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $1,731,491,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,064 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.51, for a total value of $374,006.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,064 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.51, for a total transaction of $374,006.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,504,435 shares of company stock worth $703,629,367. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $536.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $496.35.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $8.28 during trading on Thursday, hitting $485.58. 15,191,214 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,907,553. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $202.54 and a fifty-two week high of $523.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $464.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $375.30.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

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.