Apollon Wealth Management LLC Purchases 6,429 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 14.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,053 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,429 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $29,892,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in META. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $261,680,000 after purchasing an additional 112,047 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 716,847 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $410,352,000 after purchasing an additional 14,754 shares in the last quarter. Stillwater Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $423,000. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 703 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Safeguard Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 51.9% during the 3rd quarter. Safeguard Financial LLC now owns 673 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $728.56 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $729.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $636.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $580.80.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS 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 firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given 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 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total value of $14,194,198.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 793,070 shares of company stock worth $504,185,108. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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.