Advisory Alpha LLC Has $4.05 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Advisory Alpha LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 13.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,919 shares of the social networking company's stock after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,052,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,365,820,000 after buying an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $520,662,000 after purchasing an additional 890,434 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 926.6% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $369,774,000 after purchasing an additional 661,923 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 31,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total transaction of $255,234.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 16,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,057,950. The trade was a 2.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ META traded up $11.04 on Friday, reaching $647.49. The company had a trading volume of 19,039,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,840,293. The company's fifty day moving average is $601.93 and its 200-day moving average is $560.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $385.66 and a 1-year high of $652.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

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.