Steele Capital Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Steele Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 2,240 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $793,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in META. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $240,000. ACT Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $238,000. Solidarity Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $5,119,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 5,656 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,698,000 after buying an additional 755 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lineweaver Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $423,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $570.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,277,048 shares of company stock worth $620,679,759. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $10.67 during trading on Monday, reaching $432.62. 21,472,414 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,429,988. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $494.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $405.39. The firm has a market cap of $1.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $229.85 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. Analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

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.