Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Holdings Raised by Armstrong Advisory Group Inc.

Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 819 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $480,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares in the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,573,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $235,872,000 after buying an additional 5,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $412,606,000 after purchasing an additional 91,773 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on META shares. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, November 25th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. The trade was a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total value of $520,103.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,612,808.90. This represents a 2.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 496,174 shares of company stock worth $301,408,499. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $611.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $358.61 and a 52-week high of $638.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $595.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $555.25. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.