Howe & Rusling Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 28,402 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $10,053,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 477,071 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $143,222,000 after buying an additional 8,021 shares in the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the third quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 16,602 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,984,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.5% in the third quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 1,688 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Finally, TFC Financial Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the third quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 1,020 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $11.27 on Wednesday, reaching $441.44. 17,055,566 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,396,611. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $492.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $406.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $229.85 and a 12 month high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total value of $216,354.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,599 shares in the company, valued at $2,913,722.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total transaction of $216,354.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,599 shares in the company, valued at $2,913,722.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,257,291 shares of company stock worth $612,916,087 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $513.55.

About Meta Platforms

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.