Strid Group LLC Takes $202,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Strid Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 570 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 1st quarter valued at $66,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.5% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,244,201 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $499,020,000 after acquiring an additional 249,926 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC grew its position in 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 period. First Western Trust Bank bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the first quarter valued at approximately $813,000. Finally, Oxford Financial Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total transaction of $7,513,615.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $517.75, for a total value of $253,697.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,924,027.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total value of $7,513,615.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock worth $684,796,490 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities 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, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $12.77 during trading on Thursday, reaching $506.94. 7,422,040 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,944,693. The stock has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $493.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $396.70. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $207.13 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

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.