Constant Guidance Financial LLC Purchases New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Constant Guidance Financial LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,236 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,500,000. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.5% of Constant Guidance Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AMS Capital Ltda raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. AMS Capital Ltda now owns 26,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,424,000 after acquiring an additional 7,249 shares during the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 3,923 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,389,000 after acquiring an additional 979 shares during the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,142 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,112,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 953 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $681,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $414.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $496.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.47, for a total value of $6,917,281.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $356.40, for a total value of $201,722.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,418 shares in the company, valued at $12,979,375.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.47, for a total transaction of $6,917,281.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,504,435 shares of company stock valued at $703,629,367 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of META stock traded down $8.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $485.58. 15,212,764 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,086,339. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $467.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $376.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $202.54 and a 12 month high of $523.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.