Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Has $8.77 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,975 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,095 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.0% in the second quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 877 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. GDS Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.5% during the second quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 23,107 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $11,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,391 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 706,450 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $356,206,000 after acquiring an additional 17,225 shares during the period. Finally, DHK Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter valued at $252,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total transaction of $237,128.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $6,147,531.12. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $616.16, for a total value of $22,133,083.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 496,174 shares of company stock worth $301,408,499 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of META opened at $612.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $596.78 and its 200-day moving average is $556.39. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $370.95 and a 12 month high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

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.