Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Wealth Effects LLC’s 8th Largest Position

Wealth Effects LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,683 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 2.4% of Wealth Effects LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Wealth Effects LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $6,841,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $666.00, for a total value of $602,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,510,470. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741 over the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

META stock opened at $689.18 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $613.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $565.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $710.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its 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 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.44 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 given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Benchmark raised shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $706.76.

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.