Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,144 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 693 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 27,322 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $15,997,000 after buying an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,155 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $676,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,235 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,822,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. L.M. Kohn & Company boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 3,703 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,168,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,167 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,440,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of META stock opened at $683.62 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $647.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $591.24. 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 company has a market cap of $1.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, 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 earnings per share 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 business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Mizuho lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $719.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were 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. Insiders have sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by 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.