Gray Wealth Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 707 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gray Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 707 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AIA Group Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 56,459 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $19,984,000 after acquiring an additional 8,427 shares during the period. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 55.9% during the 4th quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd now owns 8,709 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,083,000 after purchasing an additional 3,122 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its position in Meta Platforms by 58.1% during the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 6,315 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,235,000 after acquiring an additional 2,321 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 220.1% during the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,041,131 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $368,519,000 after purchasing an additional 715,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strid Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $202,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total value of $7,722,037.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total value of $7,722,037.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock worth $677,574,550. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $519.53.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $12.00 during trading on Friday, hitting $489.80. 4,923,158 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,882,270. The stock has a market cap of $1.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.99, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $207.13 and a twelve month high of $531.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $494.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $397.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

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.