Sage Private Wealth Group LLC Buys 51 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sage Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 436 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $713.32, for a total value of $643,414.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,607,740.16. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 sold a total of 751,033 shares of company stock worth $480,911,671 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $736.67 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $641.19 and a 200 day moving average of $585.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a PEG ratio of 1.46 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. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. 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.