Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Purchases 608 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 81,424 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 608 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.2% of Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $47,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $61,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,790 shares in the company, valued at $21,362,687. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.3 %

META opened at $694.84 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $645.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $589.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.05, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. 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.