Wealth Alliance Boosts Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wealth Alliance boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,596 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 146 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.7% of Wealth Alliance’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,812,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,244,796 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $55,011,920,000 after buying an additional 1,733,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 36,277,772 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $10,890,950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,978 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,223,148,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,003,927 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,906,009,000 after purchasing an additional 946,871 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $499.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $493.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $396.01. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $207.13 and a 12-month high of $531.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.00 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $415.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.28.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 35,286 shares in the company, valued at $13,585,110. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,439,788 shares of company stock valued at $684,542,792 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company 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.