Physicians Financial Services Inc. Purchases 120 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Physicians Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,943 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.3% of Physicians Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Physicians Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $7,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of META. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $261,680,000 after buying an additional 112,047 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 47.0% during the 3rd quarter. OMNI 360 Wealth Inc. now owns 991 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $567,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. now owns 5,877 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,364,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 1,708 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $658.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $651.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $595.06. The stock has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total value of $238,503.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $538,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,738,325. This represents a 2.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 813,951 shares of company stock worth $526,565,232. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on META. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

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.