Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 83,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,166 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up about 1.3% of Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $48,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the second quarter worth $1,559,000. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 208.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 259 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 1,077 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. SRN Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 127.4% during the 2nd quarter. SRN Advisors LLC now owns 5,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,797,000 after buying an additional 3,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $529,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Arete Research raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.41.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $676.49 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $682.58. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $608.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $563.58.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 shares were sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 661,312 shares of company stock worth $407,377,422. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.