Wall Street Financial Group Inc. Acquires 94 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wall Street Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 19.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 583 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Wall Street Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $341,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 61,769.3% during the third quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,132,870 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,365,820,000 after purchasing an additional 4,126,190 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4,658.5% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 909,548 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,662,000 after purchasing an additional 890,434 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 926.6% in the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 733,358 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $369,774,000 after buying an additional 661,923 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $636.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $600.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $559.30. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $385.66 and a 12-month high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on META shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $700.00 target price (up from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.