Serenus Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 1,355 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Serenus Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,355 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $793,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Arlington Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Arlington Financial Advisors LLC now owns 649 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 3,825 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,240,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 42,023 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,605,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 51,053 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $29,892,000 after acquiring an additional 6,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $866,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total transaction of $232,424.01. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,018,473.83. The trade was a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 793,070 shares of company stock valued at $504,185,108 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $728.56 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $636.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $580.80. The company has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.46, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $729.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on META shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $717.90.

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.