HBK Sorce Advisory LLC Boosts Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,550 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 2,086 shares during the quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $604.90 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $657.51 and a 200-day moving average of $604.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91.

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

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $602.47, for a total transaction of $545,235.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,375,535.40. This represents a 2.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 653,450 shares of company stock valued at $427,997,036. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

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.