Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 44.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,612 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,037 shares during the quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $610.98 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $656.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $608.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total value of $1,387,085.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $614.97, for a total value of $373,901.76. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,838 shares in the company, valued at $4,205,164.86. This represents a 8.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 586,213 shares of company stock worth $387,084,349. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

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.