JW Asset Management LLC Makes New $1.87 Million Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

JW Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,874,000. Meta Platforms makes up 0.9% of JW Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 17,091 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,007,000 after buying an additional 4,786 shares during the period. Net Worth Advisory Group raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 4,879 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,856,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 953 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $1,506,000. Finally, Davis R M Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 120,725 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $70,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,110 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $607.60 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $658.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $603.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 posted $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total transaction of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 308,686 shares in the company, valued at $209,199,589.06. The trade was a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 690,689 shares of company stock valued at $451,269,409. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.