Apex Wealth Management LLC Invests $880,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Apex Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,503 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $880,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aspire Growth Partners LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at about $362,000. Ardsley Advisory Partners LP acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,855,000. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 260,200 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $152,350,000 after acquiring an additional 47,659 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 719,213 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $421,106,000 after acquiring an additional 8,374 shares during the period. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at $118,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

Shares of Meta Platforms stock opened at $597.02 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $575.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $603.62. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

META has been the topic of several analyst reports. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $820.00 to $640.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Pivotal Research decreased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $875.00 to $830.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $725.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $696.45.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 406 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.69, for a total transaction of $199,626.14. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 4,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,265,707.52. The trade was a 8.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total value of $502,101.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,488,983.09. The trade was a 3.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.