Peterson Wealth Services Acquires 194 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Peterson Wealth Services raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,648 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 194 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 1.0% of Peterson Wealth Services’ portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Peterson Wealth Services’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Lindenwold Advisors INC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted 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 worth $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $736.67 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $638.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $584.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Barclays boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two equities 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $717.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,362,687. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 751,033 shares of company stock worth $480,911,671. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.