Boltwood Capital Management Acquires 59 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Boltwood Capital Management lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,245 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the quarter. Boltwood Capital Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $235,872,000 after purchasing an additional 5,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $412,606,000 after acquiring an additional 91,773 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of META stock traded up $17.37 on Monday, hitting $622.00. The stock had a trading volume of 4,595,037 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,281,196. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $352.05 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50 day moving average of $589.88 and a 200 day moving average of $549.56. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 directly owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total transaction of $533,850.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,172,468.33. The trade was a 2.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 326,624 shares of company stock valued at $197,875,975 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.80.

About Meta Platforms

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.