WealthPlan Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,826 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.3% of WealthPlan Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in 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 valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on META. Sanford C. Bernstein upped 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. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META traded down $11.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $683.62. 15,609,265 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,022,064. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company's 50 day moving average is $647.09 and its 200 day moving average is $590.57.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $703.21, for a total transaction of $13,830,734.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.