By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Auxano Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,838 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.6% of Auxano Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Auxano Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $70,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.
Insider Activity
In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 775,295 shares of company stock worth $504,237,715. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
META has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price target (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on META
Meta Platforms Price Performance
META stock opened at $625.66 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $656.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $600.49. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.16, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. 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. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.
Meta Platforms Company Profile
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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