New Insight Wealth Advisors Acquires 305 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

New Insight Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,498 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 305 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms makes up 1.3% of New Insight Wealth Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. New Insight Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at about $70,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $589.16, for a total transaction of $243,323.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,318,548.24. This trade represents a 2.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.66, for a total transaction of $567,127.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,760,768.50. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 690,689 shares of company stock valued at $451,269,409 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $607.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $658.01 and its 200-day moving average is $602.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on META. Pivotal Research increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 target price (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $670.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently 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.