Hidden Cove Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hidden Cove Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 810 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,000. Meta Platforms makes up 0.4% of Hidden Cove Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% during the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,686,000 after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction 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 sold a total of 770,701 shares of company stock worth $495,357,621 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $643.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $587.57. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 prior year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on META. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $770.00 price objective (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.