Wise Wealth Partners Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wise Wealth Partners purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 602 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $352,000. Meta Platforms comprises about 0.9% of Wise Wealth Partners’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 78,471.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,248,763 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,658,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,240,810 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $2,243,603,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Meta Platforms by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,445,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,727,613,000 after buying an additional 2,787,832 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,211,967,000 after buying an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.18, for a total value of $296,813.44. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 5,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,744,547.96. This represents a 9.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 248,463 shares of company stock worth $175,403,314 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $645.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $675.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $681.95.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $554.44 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $427.11 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $581.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $604.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

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.