Goldstone Financial Group LLC Purchases 309 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Goldstone Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 17.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,045 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Goldstone Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,197,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total transaction of $252,071.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $310,890,460.68. This represents a 0.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms 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 given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $612.77 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $370.95 and a 1 year high of $638.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $596.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $556.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current 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 of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.