Wick Capital Partners LLC Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wick Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 701.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,390 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,842 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 0.4% of Wick Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Wick Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Valley Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. now owns 588 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 572 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $695.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Barclays increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $770.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $681.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the firm’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 value of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 248,463 shares of company stock valued at $175,403,314. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $554.44 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $581.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $604.05. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $427.11 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

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.