Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. Purchases Shares of 955 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 955 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $559,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Management Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Management Partners LLC now owns 2,315 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,355,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 796,213 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $466,191,000 after purchasing an additional 113,433 shares during the period. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $442,000. Finally, Willner & Heller LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. Willner & Heller LLC now owns 759 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $623.50 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $382.08 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $598.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $558.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $6,147,531.12. This trade represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 567,111 shares of company stock valued at $345,453,784. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Two equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $652.98.

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.