Cove Private Wealth LLC Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Cove Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 215.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,118 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 2,813 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.4% of Cove Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Cove Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares 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 Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $623.50 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $598.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $558.76. The firm has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $382.08 and a 52-week high of $638.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 31,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,262,708.20. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total value of $237,128.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. This trade represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 567,111 shares of company stock valued at $345,453,784. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $652.98.

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.