Genesis Private Wealth LLC Invests $1.62 Million in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Genesis Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,758 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $1,615,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:META traded up $11.04 on Friday, reaching $647.49. 19,039,689 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,840,293. The business has a fifty day moving average of $601.93 and a 200-day moving average of $560.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $385.66 and a 52-week 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.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This trade represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group raised 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. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.20.

About Meta Platforms

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.