Center for Financial Planning Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Center for Financial Planning Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,089 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Center for Financial Planning Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $638,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. PUREfi Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $683,000. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $11,555,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Sage Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Sage Advisors LLC now owns 2,406 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd now owns 4,915 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,878,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $129,666,000 after purchasing an additional 7,587 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on META. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $694.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $645.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $589.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (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 previous year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms 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 directly owns 19,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 810,217 shares of company stock worth $523,808,864 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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.