Monterey Private Wealth Inc. Grows Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Monterey Private Wealth Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,753 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Monterey Private Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Transform Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 26,065 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $15,262,000 after purchasing an additional 4,647 shares in the last quarter. Lockerman Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Lockerman Financial Group Inc. now owns 919 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 8,799 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $5,152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264 shares in the last quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,611 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $14,410,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 18,725 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $10,964,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total value of $524,990.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total transaction of $5,166,159.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,776,261.56. The trade was a 14.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180 in the last 90 days. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $636.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a current ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $385.66 and a one year high of $638.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $600.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $559.30.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

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

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.