Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,853 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,085,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in 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 buying an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,607,740.16. This trade represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 751,033 shares of company stock worth $480,911,671. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $736.67 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $638.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $584.28. The stock 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. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued 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, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

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.