Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Milestone Resources Group Ltd

Milestone Resources Group Ltd boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 38.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 560,070 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 155,197 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 8.2% of Milestone Resources Group Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Milestone Resources Group Ltd’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $198,242,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $159,841,000 after buying an additional 32,423 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Stockton lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $79,212,000 after buying an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on META shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

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

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total value of $7,769,271.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total value of $7,769,271.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock worth $657,034,449. Company insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

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.