Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is Trajan Wealth LLC’s 5th Largest Position

Trajan Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,850 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 5,883 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 3.3% of Trajan Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Trajan Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $60,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,928,185,000 after buying an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. grew its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 3,219 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the period. Aldebaran Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 2,853 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,633,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,048 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $9,704,000 after acquiring an additional 1,480 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,466,769.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 379,901 shares of company stock worth $260,806,516. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $501.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $608.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $607.04. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Meta Platforms from $780.00 to $655.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $790.00 to $624.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $684.10.

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.