Smart Money Group LLC Raises Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Smart Money Group LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,704 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the quarter. Smart Money Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $998,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. This trade represents a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $613.85, for a total value of $22,050,105.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 531,190 shares of company stock valued at $322,938,501 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $651.27.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $616.46 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $381.16 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $598.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $558.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

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.