Essex Financial Services Inc. Buys 720 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,246 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 451,581 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $159,841,000 after acquiring an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Stockton raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signify Wealth purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $228,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 223,788 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $79,212,000 after purchasing an additional 4,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded up $12.99 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $443.16. 11,580,107 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,328,941. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $229.85 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $492.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $406.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 32.06% and a return on equity of 32.03%. The company had revenue of $36.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.28 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total transaction of $216,354.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,913,722.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $441.54, for a total value of $216,354.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,913,722.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 34,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.52, for a total transaction of $15,737,772.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,257,291 shares of company stock worth $612,916,087 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company 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.