Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Purchases 472 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 43.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,557 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.'s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% in the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after acquiring an additional 4,126,190 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $520,662,000 after acquiring an additional 890,434 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 926.6% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $369,774,000 after purchasing an additional 661,923 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $613.85, for a total transaction of $22,050,105.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 531,190 shares of company stock valued at $322,938,501. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $651.27.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of META traded up $3.69 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $616.46. The stock had a trading volume of 11,584,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,100,104. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $597.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $557.77. The firm has a market cap of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $381.16 and a twelve month high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.