Aries Wealth Management Lowers Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Aries Wealth Management trimmed its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,110 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 73 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.5% of Aries Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Aries Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $703.77 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. 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 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company’s fifty day moving average is $644.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $588.38.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. 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 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $717.90.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 over the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.