Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC

Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 2.8% of Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sage Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.0% during the fourth 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. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,459 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $129,666,000 after buying an additional 7,587 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 81,424 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $47,675,000 after buying an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,076 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,143,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on META shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $720.00 to $790.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $717.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. This trade represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.30, for a total value of $511,596.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,362,687. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 810,217 shares of company stock valued at $523,808,864 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.3 %

META opened at $694.84 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $645.83 and a 200-day moving average of $589.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 previous year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.36%.

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.