Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 67.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,861 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the quarter. Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,090,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 5,231 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,063,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Twin City Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Twin City Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,689 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,331,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 12,644 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,409,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $252,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total value of $1,387,085.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.76, for a total value of $535,542.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,477,780.40. This trade represents a 2.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 585,605 shares of company stock valued at $386,710,448 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of META opened at $626.31 on Wednesday. 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 1-year low of $414.50 and a 1-year high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $656.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $608.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 last year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. 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 0.34%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

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.