American Financial Advisors LLC Purchases 39 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

American Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,258 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. American Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,153,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,223,148,000. Morgan Stanley bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,072,543,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,796,633,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,731,491,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $39,270,443,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total transaction of $291,675.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,853,183.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.59, for a total transaction of $291,675.15. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,853,183.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.75, for a total transaction of $253,697.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,579 shares in the company, valued at $3,924,027.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,421,182 shares of company stock worth $677,574,550 in the last ninety days. 13.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $20.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $481.07. The stock had a trading volume of 25,192,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,158,529. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $494.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $397.43. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $207.13 and a 12-month high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.00 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. 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.