Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Acquires 530 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,169 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $5,447,975,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on META. Needham & Company LLC restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META traded up $1.47 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $612.77. The company had a trading volume of 17,239,131 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,812,479. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $370.95 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $596.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $556.71.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $2,918,698.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 8,565 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,943,375.40. The trade was a 37.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

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.