617 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Purchased by ShankerValleau Wealth Advisors Inc.

ShankerValleau Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 617 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $361,000. Meta Platforms makes up 0.1% of ShankerValleau Wealth Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2,000.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 105 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $5,166,159.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. This represents a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 326,624 shares of company stock valued at $197,875,975 over the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 4.2 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $25.57 on Monday, reaching $630.20. 14,311,853 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,810,251. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.68, a PEG ratio of 1.39 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. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $352.05 and a one year high of $638.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $589.88 and a 200 day moving average of $549.56.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 9.42%.

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.