MWA Asset Management Has $4.53 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

MWA Asset Management decreased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,734 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 270 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.0% of MWA Asset Management’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. MWA Asset Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 9,386 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,496,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027 shares during the last quarter. Clientfirst Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Austin Asset Management Co Inc boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Austin Asset Management Co Inc now owns 1,726 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,011,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,716,000. Finally, Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 46,448 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $27,196,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

META stock opened at $728.56 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $636.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $580.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $729.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.46, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total transaction of $14,194,198.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 793,070 shares of company stock worth $504,185,108 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.