Peterson Wealth Services Raises Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Peterson Wealth Services grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 960 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the quarter. Peterson Wealth Services’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $340,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WoodTrust Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 1,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners now owns 4,566 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 736 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on META. Truist Financial raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the company’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 $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 35,286 shares in the company, valued at $13,585,110. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock valued at $684,796,490. Company insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ META traded up $15.33 during trading on Thursday, hitting $509.50. 5,490,888 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,917,754. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $207.13 and a 1 year high of $531.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $493.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $396.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.42%.

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.