MGO Private Wealth LLC Increases Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

MGO Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 23.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 964 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. MGO Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $564,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $547,995.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,649,280. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 653,450 shares of company stock valued at $427,997,036. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $604.90 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $414.50 and a twelve month high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $657.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $604.41.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $5.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on META. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

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.