JPL Wealth Management LLC Makes New $979,000 Investment in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,672 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $979,000.

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

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $604.90 on Tuesday. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $657.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $604.41. 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.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $5.33 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.35%. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total transaction of $39,897,337.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.00, for a total transaction of $243,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,576,930. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 653,450 shares of company stock valued at $427,997,036. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Argus set a $775.00 price target on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

About Meta Platforms

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.