Naples Global Advisors LLC Purchases 511 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Naples Global Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,037 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on META. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $717.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total value of $14,445,949.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 770,701 shares of company stock worth $495,357,621 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ META 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. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $643.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $587.57.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend 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.