Elevated Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 647 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Elevated Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 50.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,939 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the period. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the third quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $235,872,000 after purchasing an additional 5,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $412,606,000 after purchasing an additional 91,773 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total transaction of $239,808.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,456,828. This trade represents a 3.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 423,427 shares of company stock valued at $256,996,450. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.2 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $608.33 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $594.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $554.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $358.61 and a 1-year high of $638.40. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its 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. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on META. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

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.