Private Advisor Group LLC Grows Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 131,351 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,261 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $76,907,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $34,087,000 after buying an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of META stock opened at $657.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $648.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $594.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total transaction of $238,503.37. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $538,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,738,325. This represents a 2.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 812,422 shares of company stock valued at $525,534,818. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

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.