Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Position Boosted by Alta Wealth Advisors LLC

Alta Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,832 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.8% of Alta Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after acquiring an additional 698,884 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after acquiring an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after acquiring an additional 186,728 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $696.39, for a total transaction of $9,035,660.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 210,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $146,918,094.69. This trade represents a 5.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 673,878 shares of company stock worth $416,269,904. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of META stock opened at $704.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $618.86 and a 200-day moving average of $570.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $710.79. The company has a market capitalization of $1.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 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 $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on META. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $710.83.

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.