Wealth Alliance Acquires 146 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wealth Alliance grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,596 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.7% of Wealth Alliance’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,812,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% during the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% during the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on META. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Mizuho increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $375.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.28.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $499.76 on Wednesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $207.13 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $493.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $396.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 28.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.00 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 10,956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $5,185,255.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 76,398 shares in the company, valued at $36,157,645.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,439,788 shares of company stock worth $684,542,792. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.