784 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Acquired by Verus Wealth Management LLC

Verus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 784 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $459,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lindenwold Advisors INC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,569,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Central Valley Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $689.18 on Friday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $613.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $566.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $387.10 and a 12 month high of $710.79.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.