Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Purchased by Opes Wealth Management LLC

Opes Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,123 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Opes Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of META. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,223,148,000. Morgan Stanley bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,072,543,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,796,633,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,731,491,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 130,809,908 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $39,270,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,647 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

META has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $430.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $519.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total value of $3,500,100.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,086,721.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 9,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.90, for a total value of $3,500,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 79,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,086,721.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.36, for a total value of $7,722,037.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,421,182 shares of company stock worth $677,574,550. Corporate insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $12.66 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $489.14. The company had a trading volume of 7,468,667 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,915,494. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $494.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $397.43. The stock has a market cap of $1.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $207.13 and a 1-year high of $531.49.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.42%.

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.