Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. raised its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,140 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,595,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Cordant Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter valued at about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of META stock opened at $655.05 on Tuesday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $414.50 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $654.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $597.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $623.50, for a total transaction of $257,505.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 18,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,692,495.50. This represents a 2.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 796,712 shares of company stock valued at $517,503,564 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on META. Argus set a $775.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price objective (up previously from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $719.26.

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.