Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC Buys 78 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,938 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total transaction of $252,071.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $310,890,460.68. This trade represents a 0.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of META opened at $647.49 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $385.66 and a 1 year high of $652.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $601.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $560.33. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.