Spahn Wealth & Retirement LLC Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Spahn Wealth & Retirement LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 9,814 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,746,000. Meta Platforms makes up 3.8% of Spahn Wealth & Retirement LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,718 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $9,846,000 after acquiring an additional 3,429 shares during the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 91,725 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $53,706,000 after purchasing an additional 11,683 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its position in Meta Platforms by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 72,792 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $42,620,000 after purchasing an additional 7,832 shares during the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 65,693 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $38,464,000 after purchasing an additional 5,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,018 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,554,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total transaction of $571,552.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,215,915.50. The trade was a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 584,113 shares of company stock worth $385,838,234. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $583.93 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day moving average is $653.10 and its 200 day moving average is $610.50.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on META. 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 report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Company 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.