Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Grows Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,338 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $783,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $577.49, for a total value of $238,503.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,068,173.34. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 812,422 shares of company stock worth $525,534,818. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $775.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $668.13 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $414.50 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The company has a fifty day moving average of $647.97 and a 200-day moving average of $593.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

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.