Advisory Alpha LLC Acquires 847 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,919 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Lindenwold Advisors INC raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 owns 3,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of META opened at $647.49 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 firm has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $601.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $560.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $385.66 and a 12-month high of $652.00.

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

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

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.