Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Stake Increased by Abound Wealth Management

Abound Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 639 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Abound Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $615.41, for a total transaction of $7,984,944.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 381,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $234,649,678.90. This represents a 3.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total value of $239,808.45. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,456,828. The trade was a 3.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 423,427 shares of company stock valued at $256,996,450 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $608.33 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $594.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $554.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $358.61 and a 52 week high of $638.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several recent research reports. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $670.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average 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.