381 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Purchased by Wealth Advisors Northwest LLC

Wealth Advisors Northwest LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 381 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after buying an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $736.67 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $641.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $585.97.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $721.69, for a total value of $14,194,198.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 751,033 shares of company stock valued at $480,911,671 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

About Meta Platforms

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.