Meridian Wealth Partners LLC Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Meridian Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,430 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,594,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 40.6% in the 4th quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC now owns 10,804 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,326,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. Mosley Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 1,189 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $696,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 6,821 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,994,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $618,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total transaction of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 585,605 shares of company stock worth $386,710,448 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on META shares. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research 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 issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $619.55 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $655.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $607.11. 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 capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Meta Platforms Company 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.