Private Advisor Group LLC Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 131,351 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,261 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $76,907,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of META opened at $657.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $648.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $594.06. 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 has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share 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 dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Scotiabank lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.