Advisory Alpha LLC Purchases 847 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Advisory Alpha LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,919 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 847 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares during the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.2% in the second quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 716,701 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $361,375,000 after acquiring an additional 54,084 shares during the period. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 12.9% during the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,750 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,347 shares during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 589.3% during the second quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 199,101 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $100,391,000 after purchasing an additional 170,218 shares during the period. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 93.3% in the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 295,212 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $148,852,000 after purchasing an additional 142,523 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total value of $559,290.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,663,600. This trade represents a 2.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $652,767.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,229 shares in the company, valued at $709,329.64. This represents a 47.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Pivotal Research increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $647.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $601.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $560.12. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $385.66 and a fifty-two week high of $652.00.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

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.