Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,939 shares of the social networking company's stock after selling 3,461 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $27,484,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
META has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $718.31.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
Meta Platforms stock traded up $23.30 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $619.55. 15,714,384 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,812,127. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $655.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $606.39. The company has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.
Insider Activity
In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total value of $545,235.35. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,375,535.40. The trade was a 2.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 622,431 shares of company stock worth $408,968,491 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Profile
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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.
Further Reading
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