Gradient Investments LLC Has $21.61 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Gradient Investments LLC cut its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,037 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 6,483 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $21,605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of META. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 736 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Curated Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,602 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $567,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Courier Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $652,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $370.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $496.35.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META traded down $8.28 on Friday, hitting $485.58. 15,212,764 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,086,339. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $467.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $376.07. The firm has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.21. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $202.54 and a one year high of $523.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.47, for a total transaction of $6,917,281.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.29, for a total value of $295,594.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,993,314.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.47, for a total value of $6,917,281.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,504,435 shares of company stock worth $703,629,367. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.