144 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Acquired by Disciplined Equity Management Inc.

Disciplined Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 144 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after purchasing an additional 32,423 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Stockton increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $79,212,000 after acquiring an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,368,244 shares of company stock worth $657,034,449 in the last 90 days. 14.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded down $2.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $493.50. 36,273,029 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,341,254. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $207.13 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $495.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $403.14.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

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.