BTS Asset Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

BTS Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 582 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $341,000. Meta Platforms accounts for about 0.3% of BTS Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position.

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

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ META opened at $612.77 on Monday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $370.95 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $596.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $557.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Equities analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 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. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total transaction of $520,103.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,387 shares in the company, valued at $18,612,808.90. The trade was a 2.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $616.16, for a total value of $22,133,083.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 496,174 shares of company stock worth $301,408,499 in the last three months. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on META shares. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.05.

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.