GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Has $8.79 Million Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,824 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 469 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of META. WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 1,547 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 730 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Yarger Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 736 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Curated Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,602 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $567,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of META stock opened at $523.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $490.71 and a 200-day moving average of $390.44. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $207.13 and a one year high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $40.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.58, for a total value of $211,446.28. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 35,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,393,590.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.58, for a total value of $211,446.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 35,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,393,590.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.77, for a total transaction of $7,513,615.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,460,035 shares of company stock valued at $691,937,607. Insiders own 13.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $502.75.

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.