Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 30.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,651 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 8,851 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.3% of Centaurus Financial Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Centaurus Financial Inc.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $22,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Needham & Company LLC restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $700.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $701.05.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.4%
META traded down $2.82 on Friday, hitting $642.23. The company had a trading volume of 16,230,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,491,179. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $578.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $610.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month 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 capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. Meta Platforms's revenue for the quarter was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms
In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 6,874 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $659.36, for a total value of $4,532,440.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,040 shares in the company, valued at $46,181,574.40. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.96, for a total value of $409,767.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 8,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,837,841.52. This trade represents a 6.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,664 shares of company stock valued at $35,484,670 in the last three months. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
About Meta Platforms
(
Free Report)
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.
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