Cooper Financial Group Acquires 3,162 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cooper Financial Group boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 53.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 3,162 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $9.16 during trading on Monday, reaching $606.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,311,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,447,462. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $358.61 and a 12 month high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $593.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $553.55.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.97, for a total value of $533,922.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,641,281.24. This represents a 2.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $652,767.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $709,329.64. This trade represents a 47.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 411,357 shares of company stock valued at $249,545,428 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

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.