Seelaus Asset Management LLC Buys 133 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,233 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of Stockton raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Keel Point LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.3% in the third quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,008,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $269,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $523.16 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $207.13 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The company has a market capitalization of $1.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $490.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $390.44.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on META. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, March 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $527.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $502.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.58, for a total transaction of $211,446.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,393,590.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $364.99, for a total value of $7,183,368.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.58, for a total transaction of $211,446.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,393,590.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,460,035 shares of company stock worth $691,937,607 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

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.