By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META – Free Report) by 73.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,645 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 695 shares during the quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $963,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $263,000. Geneva Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 17,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,045,000 after acquiring an additional 2,382 shares during the last quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC now owns 458 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $262,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 40,576 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $23,227,000 after acquiring an additional 3,714 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.
Meta Platforms Stock Performance
NASDAQ META opened at $625.66 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.16, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $656.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $600.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Meta Platforms Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Meta Platforms
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $644.00, for a total value of $593,124.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,860,580. The trade was a 2.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 775,295 shares of company stock valued at $504,237,715. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.
Meta Platforms 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.
See Also
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