Fermata Advisors LLC Has $1.65 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Fermata Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,817 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Lindenwold Advisors INC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $612.77 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $596.78 and a 200 day moving average of $556.39. 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 market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $370.95 and a 1 year high of $638.40.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

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.