Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Empirical Asset Management LLC’s 5th Largest Position

Empirical Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 478.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 202,702 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 167,648 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.5% of Empirical Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $118,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of META. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the second quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 27,122 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,675,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. Andar Capital Management HK Ltd bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,446,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 16,519 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $8,329,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,453,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of META opened at $612.77 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $370.95 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50 day moving average is $596.78 and its 200 day moving average is $556.71.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. The trade was a 17.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total value of $520,103.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,387 shares in the company, valued at $18,612,808.90. The trade was a 2.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499. 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.