Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Position Lifted by Procyon Advisors LLC

Procyon Advisors LLC raised its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 51,184 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 5,779 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises 1.9% of Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $29,969,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,827,565 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $7,915,451,000 after purchasing an additional 118,298 shares in the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,679 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $6,686,000 after buying an additional 6,155 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 9,735 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,573,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 412,046 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $235,872,000 after buying an additional 5,594 shares during the period. Finally, M&G PLC raised its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 14.6% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 721,339 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $412,606,000 after acquiring an additional 91,773 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $574.70, for a total value of $520,103.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,612,808.90. The trade was a 2.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 1,131 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.16, for a total value of $652,767.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $709,329.64. This represents a 47.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $670.00 target price on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JMP Securities increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Two investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $612.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $370.95 and a 12-month high of $638.40. The business’s 50 day moving average is $596.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $556.71. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. Analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.42%.

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.