Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Cove Private Wealth LLC

Cove Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 215.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,118 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,813 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 1.4% of Cove Private Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Cove Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 1,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $819,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares in the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 90,060 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $45,410,000 after acquiring an additional 5,250 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 111,306 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $56,123,000 after buying an additional 4,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,095 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,056,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.54, for a total transaction of $547,108.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 31,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,804,216.70. The trade was a 2.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 567,111 shares of company stock worth $345,453,784. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $623.50 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $598.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $558.76. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $382.08 and a 12-month high of $638.40.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. 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 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $652.98.

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.