Golden State Wealth Management LLC Makes New $2.84 Million Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 4,857 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,844,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 14,746 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.53, for a total transaction of $8,162,353.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 812,198 shares of company stock valued at $515,102,208 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of META opened at $725.38 on Thursday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $634.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $579.77. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $727.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.33, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

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.