Kestra Advisory Services LLC Buys 14,848 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 143,121 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,848 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 0.5% of Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $83,799,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $718.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $609.00, for a total transaction of $370,272.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,054 shares in the company, valued at $4,904,886. This represents a 7.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $595.00, for a total value of $547,995.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,649,280. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 631,415 shares of company stock worth $414,365,524. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META opened at $582.36 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $656.80 and a 200 day moving average of $604.84. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.35, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. This is an increase 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%.

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.