Able Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Able Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 380 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 8.4% in the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 45,100 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $25,817,000 after buying an additional 3,495 shares in the last quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 805 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covenant Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Covenant Partners LLC now owns 3,782 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,165,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other 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 transaction 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 813,030 shares of company stock valued at $525,952,077. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $673.70 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $650.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $594.62. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

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.