6,678 Shares in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Acquired by GWN Securities Inc.

GWN Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 6,678 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,272,000. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.1% of GWN Securities Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,160,608 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $27,470,870,000 after buying an additional 698,884 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,440,868 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,266,531,000 after purchasing an additional 263,063 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $8,344,552,000 after purchasing an additional 424,201 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after purchasing an additional 186,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after purchasing an additional 110,040 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of META opened at $584.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.42, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $656.27 and a 200-day moving average of $604.69.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.33 EPS. 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.36%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In related news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total transaction of $6,075,554.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total value of $243,670.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,927 shares in the company, valued at $10,576,930. The trade was a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 632,023 shares of company stock worth $414,734,884. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.