Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC Has $8.62 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,718 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,210 shares during the quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on META. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. 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 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $643.13 and a 200-day moving average of $587.57.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side 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 announced 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. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was 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 owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total value of $14,445,949.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 770,701 shares of company stock valued at $495,357,621 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.