Palacios Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,039 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $3,085,000. Meta Platforms comprises 3.3% of Palacios Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position.
Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. 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 buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,388,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Meta Platforms Price Performance
Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $7.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $687.35. The stock had a trading volume of 9,296,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,553,415. The firm has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The business's 50-day moving average is $645.83 and its 200 day moving average is $589.12.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.36%.
Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms
In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. The trade was a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on META. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $770.00 price target (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two 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 MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $717.90.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on META
Meta Platforms Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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