Madison Wealth Partners Inc Raises Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Madison Wealth Partners Inc increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,359 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 44 shares during the quarter. Madison Wealth Partners Inc’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $796,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $753.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Argus set a $775.00 price objective on Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $719.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total value of $243,323.08. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,318,548.24. This represents a 2.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 10,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $601.54, for a total value of $6,075,554.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 653,450 shares of company stock worth $427,997,036. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $604.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.29, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average is $657.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $604.41. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share 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 last year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. Research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. This is an increase from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

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.