Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. Grows Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 0.3% of Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,016,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $585.00 to $583.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $608.33 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $594.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $554.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $358.61 and a 52-week high of $638.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 18,644 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $553.55, for a total value of $10,320,386.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,888,979.95. This trade represents a 28.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 423,427 shares of company stock valued at $256,996,450 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.