Global Wealth Strategies & Associates Grows Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 563 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the second quarter valued at $218,000. Bray Capital Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the second quarter. Bray Capital Advisors now owns 2,768 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,396,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Fortress Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 58.8% during the second quarter. Fortress Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,783 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after buying an additional 1,030 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 6.8% during the second quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,506 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,264,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 23.0% during the second quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 82,425 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $41,560,000 after acquiring an additional 15,411 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $640.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.89, for a total value of $533,850.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,172,468.33. The trade was a 2.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 326,211 shares of company stock worth $197,633,759 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

META traded up $9.47 on Thursday, hitting $594.98. The company had a trading volume of 7,331,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,682,313. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $588.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $547.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $343.17 and a 1-year high of $638.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.