Prospect Financial Services LLC Buys 2,064 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Prospect Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 54.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,856 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,064 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.9% of Prospect Financial Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Prospect Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,429,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Proathlete Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Proathlete Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,117,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 861 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. VCI Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,604 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,867,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, W Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. W Advisors LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $912,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.3 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $689.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.81, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $387.10 and a fifty-two week high of $710.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $613.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $565.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.74% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 25.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on META shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $770.00 target price (up previously from $700.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $706.76.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total transaction of $21,838,890.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 661,804 shares of company stock worth $407,745,741. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.