Wallington Asset Management LLC Has $18.98 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wallington Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,407 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 442 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 2.7% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $18,975,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 14,746 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.53, for a total transaction of $8,162,353.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 496,174 shares of company stock worth $301,408,499 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2 %

META stock opened at $612.77 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $370.95 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $596.78 and a 200-day moving average of $557.04.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid 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 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

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.