MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 58.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,135 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the period. MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $664,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of META. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after purchasing an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,915,451,000 after buying an additional 118,298 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 57,001.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,517,111 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,447,975,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500,444 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $647.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $601.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $560.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $385.66 and a 12 month high of $652.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.19 by $0.84. The company had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $605.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $654.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 420 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.17, for a total value of $252,071.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $310,890,460.68. This represents a 0.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Meta Platforms

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.