Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Essex Financial Services Inc.

Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,246 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,689,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 670 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 1,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 4,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edge Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on META. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.18.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total transaction of $216,354.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,913,722.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total transaction of $216,354.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,913,722.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,257,291 shares of company stock valued at $612,916,087. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded up $12.99 on Wednesday, hitting $443.16. 11,580,107 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,328,941. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.68. The business’s fifty day moving average is $492.83 and its 200 day moving average is $406.97. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $229.85 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.17 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.