Nicolet Advisory Services LLC Increases Stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,018 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Martin Worley Group acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $678,000. Disciplined Investors L.L.C. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $293,000. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 11,646 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,819,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 2,386 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,397,000 after buying an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cinctive Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,377,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark raised Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $583.93 on Thursday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $414.50 and a 1 year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $653.10 and a 200 day moving average of $610.50. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 posted $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.98, for a total transaction of $21,695,565.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $612.10, for a total value of $252,797.30. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,467,522.10. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 584,113 shares of company stock valued at $385,838,234. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms 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.