Gradient Capital Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gradient Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,261 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.2% of Gradient Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total transaction of $643,414.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 751,033 shares of company stock worth $480,911,671 in the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

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

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.36%.

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.