Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Shares Bought by Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 84.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,489 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,464 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises approximately 2.4% of Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $11,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in META. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 5,918 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Central Valley Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.3% in the third quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 0.5% during the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 0.7% during the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,787 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,595,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Hsbc Global Res raised Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.80.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $610.72 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $592.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $552.16. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $355.36 and a 52-week high of $638.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly 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. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 35.55% and a return on equity of 35.60%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 7,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $553.48, for a total value of $4,038,190.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 38,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,416,908.60. This represents a 15.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $611.10, for a total value of $21,951,323.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 410,536 shares of company stock valued at $249,024,275. Corporate 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.