Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Aire Advisors LLC

Aire Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,307 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 30 shares during the quarter. Aire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of META. Potentia Wealth acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $2,870,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $1,121,000. Syverson Strege & Co acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $504,000. First American Trust FSB lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. First American Trust FSB now owns 32,486 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $19,020,000 after buying an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 62.8% in the 4th quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA now owns 2,079 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after buying an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on META. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $736.00 to $786.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total transaction of $1,387,085.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total transaction of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 586,213 shares of company stock valued at $387,084,349. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $610.98 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $656.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $608.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

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.