Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 139,346 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,264 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.2% of Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $81,589,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fiera Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $1,559,000. Susquehanna International Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 219.0% during the 2nd quarter. Susquehanna International Group Ltd. now owns 11,161 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,628,000 after buying an additional 7,662 shares during the last quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter worth about $93,000. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 6,891 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,475,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META traded up $11.04 during mid-day trading 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. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $385.66 and a 52-week high of $652.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $601.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $560.51. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.