Dividend Assets Capital LLC Boosts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Dividend Assets Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 977 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the quarter. Dividend Assets Capital LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note 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 issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $538,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,738,325. This represents a 2.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $686.28, for a total transaction of $417,258.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 9,270 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,361,815.60. This trade represents a 6.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 813,951 shares of company stock valued at $526,565,232 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $668.20 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $653.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $596.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost 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 yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.