First Horizon Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,940 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 116 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $668.20 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $653.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $596.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $538,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,738,325. This trade represents a 2.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 813,951 shares of company stock worth $526,565,232. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on META. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.