Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC Purchases New Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 262,737 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $153,835,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of META. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total value of $14,445,949.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 99,932 shares of company stock valued at $69,021,252. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded up $3.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $659.36. The stock had a trading volume of 12,322,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,518,745. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.57, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $569.09 and a 200 day moving average of $605.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $705.00 to $640.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $696.45.

Meta Platforms 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.