Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Aspire Capital Advisors LLC

Aspire Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 606 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 59 shares during the quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Effects LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Effects LLC now owns 11,683 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $6,841,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 54.4% in the fourth quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC now owns 5,856 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,064 shares in the last quarter. Proathlete Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Proathlete Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,117,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 861 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $504,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Finally, VCI Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,604 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,867,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $706.76.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META opened at $689.18 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $387.10 and a one year high of $710.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $613.60 and its 200-day moving average is $565.78. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 39.74%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.44 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 given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $673.57, for a total transaction of $24,195,307.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.70, for a total value of $511,497.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,581 shares in the company, valued at $17,360,833.70. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 661,804 shares of company stock valued at $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.