Simon Quick Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,312 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 0.9% of Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $15,406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 2,680 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on META. 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 note on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $700.00 price target (up from $680.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.7 %

Meta Platforms stock opened at $647.49 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $601.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $560.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 1.18 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 fifty-two week low of $385.66 and a fifty-two week high of $652.00.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.58, for a total transaction of $234,410.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,842,668.52. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.10, for a total transaction of $524,990.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 31,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,262,708.20. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 568,016 shares of company stock worth $346,031,180. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.