Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 663 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter worth approximately $66,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.5% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,244,201 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $499,020,000 after buying an additional 249,926 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 284.0% during the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $746,000 after buying an additional 2,482 shares during the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $813,000. Finally, Oxford Financial Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 26.9% during the first quarter. Oxford Financial Group Ltd. now owns 1,888 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $420,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $364.99, for a total transaction of $7,183,368.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $364.99, for a total transaction of $7,183,368.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,459,469 shares of company stock valued at $691,726,161. Corporate insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $1.06 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $501.29. 3,042,017 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,052,457. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $492.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $394.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $207.13 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. Meta Platforms’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.00 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “strong-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-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.28.

About Meta Platforms

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.