Toth Financial Advisory Corp Raises Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,326 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 119 shares during the quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $776,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of META opened at $674.33 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business has a fifty day moving average of $606.30 and a 200 day moving average of $562.78. The company has a market cap of $1.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $387.10 and a 52-week high of $682.58.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.76, for a total value of $23,160,423.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $559,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,663,600. The trade was a 2.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 602,612 shares of company stock valued at $368,414,542. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.