Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. Buys Shares of 77 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 77 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,265,707.52. This trade represents a 8.10 % 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 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 285,289 shares of company stock worth $200,201,352 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $765.00 to $685.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $679.02.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $547.27 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $587.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $604.68. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $427.11 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.