Wealthquest Corp Acquires 103 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wealthquest Corp increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 16.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 732 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Wealthquest Corp’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.16, for a total value of $237,128.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $6,147,531.12. This trade represents a 3.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was 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. Insiders have sold a total of 567,111 shares of company stock worth $345,453,784 over the last quarter. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $652.98.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $623.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $382.08 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $598.87 and a 200 day moving average of $558.76.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion during 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

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.