Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC

UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 64.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,579 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 621 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.9% of UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $925,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after buying an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,219 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,842,000 after buying an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the third quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 2,853 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,633,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,048 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,704,000 after acquiring an additional 1,480 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.5 %

META stock opened at $533.15 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $590.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $604.75. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $676.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total value of $602,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,510,470. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 308,068 shares of company stock worth $214,968,924. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.