Welch Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,050 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 639 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. Lindenwold Advisors INC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $3,388,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,569,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,595,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.8 %
Meta Platforms stock traded up $5.58 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $725.38. The stock had a trading volume of 11,979,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,655,389. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $727.10. The firm has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $631.85 and a 200 day moving average of $578.74.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.36%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 756,735 shares of company stock worth $475,285,232 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $717.90.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Meta Platforms
About Meta Platforms
(
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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