United Asset Strategies Inc. Buys 386 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

United Asset Strategies Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 48,311 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.9% of United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $17,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $55,011,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,733,182 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,890,950,000 after buying an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,223,148,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,906,009,000 after acquiring an additional 946,871 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.5 %

Meta Platforms stock traded up $2.55 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $502.78. The company had a trading volume of 3,740,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,063,094. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $492.26 and its 200-day moving average is $394.61. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $207.13 and a fifty-two week high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.00 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 13.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total value of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.00, for a total transaction of $305,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,043,756. The sale 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $364.99, for a total transaction of $7,183,368.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,459,469 shares of company stock valued at $691,726,161 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.