AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Takes $980,000 Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,675 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $980,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 174,315 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $102,063,000 after acquiring an additional 4,747 shares during the period. BIT Capital GmbH increased its position in Meta Platforms by 44.3% during the fourth quarter. BIT Capital GmbH now owns 77,553 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $45,408,000 after purchasing an additional 23,818 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 616,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $361,109,000 after purchasing an additional 26,412 shares during the period. Moment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $970,000. Finally, Sava Infond d.o.o. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $21,131,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. The trade was a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total value of $535,542.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 32,915 shares in the company, valued at $19,477,780.40. The trade was a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 584,823 shares of company stock worth $386,274,777 in the last three months. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $718.31.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ META opened at $602.58 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $655.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $607.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year 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 firm has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

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 the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase 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 currently 8.78%.

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.