Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC Invests $1.65 Million in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,816 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,649,000. Meta Platforms comprises 1.0% of Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in Meta Platforms by 32.5% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 457,092 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $261,680,000 after buying an additional 112,047 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 17.9% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the third quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,526 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $889,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 3.8% in the third quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $759,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% in the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 340,762 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $195,066,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on META. Truist Financial upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $685.00 to $752.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $811.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned 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 price target of $719.26.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 2.0 %

META opened at $655.05 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $654.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $597.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.39, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $414.50 and a 52 week high of $740.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the company posted $5.33 EPS. Analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $677.71, for a total value of $13,554,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 308,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,199,589.06. The trade was a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 22,946 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.84, for a total value of $14,268,740.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 796,712 shares of company stock valued at $517,503,564. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.