70 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Acquired by Avondale Wealth Management

Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 70 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Central Valley Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 410,536 shares of company stock valued at $249,024,275 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $646.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META traded up $7.79 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $618.51. 5,475,796 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,765,066. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $358.61 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $592.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $552.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

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.