Advyzon Investment Management LLC Takes $3.06 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Advyzon Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 5,225 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,059,000. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.2% of Advyzon Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,565,134 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,758,146,000 after purchasing an additional 289,207 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $673.70 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $650.26 and a 200-day moving average of $594.62.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, 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 dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 value of $538,475.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,738,325. This trade represents a 2.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 813,030 shares of company stock valued at $525,952,077 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company 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.