Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Empirical Asset Management LLC's 5th Largest Position

Empirical Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 478.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 202,702 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 167,648 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for 3.5% of Empirical Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Empirical Asset Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $118,684,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired 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 in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $670.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock traded up $1.47 on Friday, reaching $612.77. The company had a trading volume of 17,239,131 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,812,479. The company's fifty day moving average is $596.78 and its 200 day moving average is $556.71. The company has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.22 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $370.95 and a 1 year high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total value of $547,108.70. Following the sale, the insider now owns 31,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,804,216.70. The trade was a 2.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

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.