Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Holdings Boosted by Sandbox Financial Partners LLC

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 49.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,940 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 971 shares during the quarter. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,064 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.51, for a total value of $374,006.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,157,645.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 1,064 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.51, for a total transaction of $374,006.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,504,435 shares of company stock worth $703,629,367 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock traded down $8.28 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $485.58. 15,191,214 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,907,553. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $202.54 and a fifty-two week high of $523.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $464.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $375.30. The company has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. Meta Platforms’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Mizuho lifted their price objective 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. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $496.35.

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.