Red Spruce Capital LLC Purchases 115 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Red Spruce Capital LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,974 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.3% of Red Spruce Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Red Spruce Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total transaction of $252,071.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $310,890,460.68. This trade represents a 0.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target 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. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $647.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $601.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $560.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $385.66 and a 52 week high of $652.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. 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.