GDS Wealth Management Purchases 1,287 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

GDS Wealth Management increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,197 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,287 shares during the quarter. GDS Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $710.83.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $714.52 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $627.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $573.70. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $725.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm earned $5.33 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $652,767.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $709,329.64. The trade was a 47.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $2,918,698.12. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 8,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,943,375.40. This represents a 37.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 701,146 shares of company stock valued at $435,387,895 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.