EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Has $9.58 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,360 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 708 shares during the quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $9,579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth approximately $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on META shares. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ META opened at $607.60 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $658.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $603.80. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 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 transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,422,186.45. This represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total transaction of $547,995.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,649,280. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 654,355 shares of company stock worth $428,564,164. 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.