King Wealth Management Group Buys 5,204 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

King Wealth Management Group boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 30.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,188 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,204 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up approximately 1.9% of King Wealth Management Group’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. King Wealth Management Group’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $12,991,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $70,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $604.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $657.51 and its 200 day moving average is $604.41. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $414.50 and a fifty-two week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, sell-side 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 will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total transaction of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 653,450 shares of company stock worth $427,997,036 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on META shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

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.