BTS Asset Management Inc. Invests $341,000 in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

BTS Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 582 shares of the social networking company’s stock, valued at approximately $341,000. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 0.3% of BTS Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in META. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $612.77 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $596.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $557.04. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $370.95 and a 52-week high of $638.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $40.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. Equities research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is 9.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total transaction of $4,038,190.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,416,908.60. The trade was a 15.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 14,746 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.53, for a total value of $8,162,353.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 496,174 shares of company stock valued at $301,408,499 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $645.00 to $705.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $675.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $650.05.

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.