Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. Makes New $440,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,243 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $440,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 670 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 1,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 4,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edge Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total value of $7,751,361.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.85, for a total transaction of $7,751,361.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,276,482 shares of company stock valued at $620,451,095 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META traded down $2.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $430.17. 18,396,504 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,427,248. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $229.85 and a 12 month high of $531.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.71, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $492.83 and a 200 day moving average of $406.97.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.28 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $545.00 price target (down from $600.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.18.

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.