Dakota Wealth Management Increases Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Dakota Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 100,814 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 1.4% of Dakota Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Dakota Wealth Management’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $59,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $690.00 to $719.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

META opened at $647.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $601.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $560.12. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $385.66 and a 52 week high of $652.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.42%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was 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 $18,262,708.20. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company 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.