ARS Investment Partners LLC Has $1.47 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

ARS Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,505 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 134 shares during the quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $652,767.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $709,329.64. This trade represents a 47.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ META opened at $636.45 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $385.66 and a fifty-two week high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $600.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $559.30. The stock has a market cap of $1.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its 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 return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.