Gutierrez Wealth Advisory LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gutierrez Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,470 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $2,618,000. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.2% of Gutierrez Wealth Advisory LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, VeraBank N.A. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Two research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $8.40 during trading on Thursday, reaching $602.58. 10,412,777 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,822,847. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $656.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $608.02.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total transaction of $535,542.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,477,780.40. The trade was a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 586,213 shares of company stock worth $387,084,349. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.