Evoke Wealth LLC Has $29.14 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Evoke Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 217.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,769 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,106 shares during the quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $29,140,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.50, for a total transaction of $369,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,446 shares in the company, valued at $4,523,445. The trade was a 7.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total transaction of $545,235.35. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,375,535.40. The trade was a 2.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 622,844 shares of company stock worth $409,212,161. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on META shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $586.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.50, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $655.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $604.56. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released 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 last year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect 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 will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.