Western Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Western Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,750 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 756 shares during the quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $5,929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $12.00 during trading on Friday, hitting $489.80. 4,923,158 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,882,270. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $494.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $397.43. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $207.13 and a 52-week high of $531.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.99, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 13.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $527.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $435.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $609.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $470.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $519.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,585,110. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total value of $217,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,585,110. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 2,025 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $958,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,757,883.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock valued at $677,574,550. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

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.