Venturi Wealth Management LLC Has $27.01 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 46,132 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,288 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.3% of Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $27,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on META. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $668.13 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $647.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $593.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total value of $238,503.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,068,173.34. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,747.13. This trade represents a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 812,422 shares of company stock valued at $525,534,818 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.