Intellus Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Intellus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 23,621 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,831,000. Meta Platforms makes up 2.4% of Intellus Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Forefront Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,580,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,614,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $945,581,000 after acquiring an additional 39,479 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,268,104 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,670,038,000 after purchasing an additional 26,396 shares in the last quarter. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth about $600,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 45.8% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 206,615 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $120,975,000 after purchasing an additional 64,947 shares during the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,747.13. The trade was a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 622,431 shares of company stock valued at $408,968,491. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

META opened at $596.25 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $655.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $606.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.93, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect 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 will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Arete Research upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.