Prosperity Consulting Group LLC Purchases 1,343 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Prosperity Consulting Group LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 16.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,589 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,614,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 255.9% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,001,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,350 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $696.39, for a total transaction of $9,035,660.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 210,971 shares in the company, valued at $146,918,094.69. This represents a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.87, for a total value of $453,012.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,525,441.26. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 248,463 shares of company stock valued at $175,403,314 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $786.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $681.95.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded down $15.13 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $539.31. 10,266,652 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,324,325. The company has a market capitalization of $1.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $427.11 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $581.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $604.05.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

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.