VCI Wealth Management LLC Acquires 156 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

VCI Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,604 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 156 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.6% of VCI Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. VCI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,867,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth about $213,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $261,680,000 after purchasing an additional 112,047 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.6% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,052 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $254,766,000 after purchasing an additional 27,453 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 6.6% in the third quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 834 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers Trust Co. raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 5.9% in the third quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 1,428 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $817,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. This represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $689.18 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $387.10 and a 1 year high of $710.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $613.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $565.78.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

About Meta Platforms

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.