Guardian Asset Advisors LLC Has $774,000 Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Guardian Asset Advisors LLC lowered its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,320 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 24 shares during the period. Guardian Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % 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 valued at $523,808,864 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on META shares. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META stock opened at $703.77 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $644.55 and a 200-day moving average of $588.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.