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

Palacios Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,039 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,085,000. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.3% of Palacios Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $61,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 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 given 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 stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. The trade was a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META stock opened at $703.77 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $644.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $588.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.