BCR Wealth Strategies LLC Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

BCR Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,483 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.7% of BCR Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. BCR Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,453,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of META. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Cordant Inc. acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter worth about $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $734.49, for a total transaction of $14,445,949.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.77, for a total value of $232,424.01. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,018,473.83. This represents a 2.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 770,701 shares of company stock valued at $495,357,621. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.8 %

META stock opened at $715.91 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $643.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $587.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. 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 (NASDAQ:META) last posted 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 previous year, the firm earned $5.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 8.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on META. Needham & Company LLC reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $583.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Meta Platforms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $820.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $717.90.

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.