Atlas Wealth LLC Acquires 1,002 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Atlas Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 32.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,056 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 0.9% of Atlas Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Atlas Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $82,314,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $459,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after acquiring an additional 118,298 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $596.25 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.93, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $655.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $606.39.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 in the previous year, the company posted $5.33 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total transaction of $552,830.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,103 shares in the company, valued at $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 622,431 shares of company stock valued at $408,968,491 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on META. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $718.31.

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.