Willner & Heller LLC Raises Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Willner & Heller LLC grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 20.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 759 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Willner & Heller LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $616.46 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $381.16 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $598.00 and a 200 day moving average of $558.31.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $613.85, for a total value of $22,050,105.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total value of $237,128.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,531.12. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 531,190 shares of company stock valued at $322,938,501. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two research 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $651.27.

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.