Sargent Investment Group LLC Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sargent Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 63.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,291 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,278 shares during the quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $663.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $710.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $706.72, for a total transaction of $9,169,692.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,046 shares in the company, valued at $121,588,349.12. The trade was a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 701,146 shares of company stock valued at $435,387,895. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $714.52 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $627.23 and its 200 day moving average is $575.09. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $725.01. The company has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued 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 of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

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.