Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Acquired by Heritage Wealth Advisors

Heritage Wealth Advisors increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,664 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VeraBank N.A. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META opened at $610.98 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $656.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $608.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total transaction of $1,387,085.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This trade represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 586,213 shares of company stock worth $387,084,349 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.