Avantra Family Wealth Inc. Invests $1.14 Million in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Avantra Family Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,951 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,142,000. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.1% of Avantra Family Wealth Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Berry Wealth Group LP boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP now owns 1,492 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $874,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 73,812 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $43,218,000 after purchasing an additional 7,246 shares during the last quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Riverstone Advisors LLC now owns 1,018 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $596,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Bluesphere Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.7% during the 4th quarter. Bluesphere Advisors LLC now owns 1,753 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Five Oceans Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Five Oceans Advisors now owns 5,902 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,456,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on META. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $710.83.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ META opened at $711.99 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $718.90. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $624.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $572.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its 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 period last year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.28%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $702.24, for a total value of $635,527.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 28,390 shares in the company, valued at $19,936,593.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $706.72, for a total value of $9,169,692.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $121,588,349.12. This represents a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 701,146 shares of company stock valued at $435,387,895. 13.71% of the stock is 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.