Morse Asset Management Inc Buys 468 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Morse Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,360 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for about 3.0% of Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,415,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $66,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,244,201 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $499,020,000 after acquiring an additional 249,926 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 284.0% in the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 3,356 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $746,000 after acquiring an additional 2,482 shares during the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $813,000. Finally, Oxford Financial Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 26.9% in the 1st quarter. Oxford Financial Group Ltd. now owns 1,888 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 62.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded down $2.10 on Friday, hitting $484.03. 18,374,286 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,261,306. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.15. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.66 and a twelve month high of $494.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $400.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $343.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on META. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $414.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $365.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, forty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.53.

View Our Latest Report on Meta Platforms

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total value of $45,601,669.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,047,764 shares of company stock worth $414,647,143 over the last quarter. 13.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Meta Platforms

(Free Report)

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.

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