Secure Asset Management LLC Has $11.41 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Secure Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,491 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for about 1.7% of Secure Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Secure Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 35.1% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 27,272 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,559,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,333 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,715,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.1% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 32,104 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $16,187,000 after buying an additional 4,452 shares during the period. Finally, Doheny Asset Management CA boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 20.3% in the second quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 1,276 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.80, for a total value of $22,515,282.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $618.00, for a total transaction of $559,290.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,663,600. This trade represents a 2.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on META. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $730.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group raised their price target 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 restated an “outperform” rating and set a $700.00 price objective (up previously from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Meta Platforms stock opened at $647.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $601.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $560.51. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $385.66 and a 1 year high of $652.00.

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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Meta Platforms 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.