Northstar Advisory Group LLC Grows Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Northstar Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 63.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,525 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,909 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 2.2% of Northstar Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Northstar Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $620.00 to $635.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $650.05.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $608.33 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $594.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $554.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $358.61 and a twelve month high of $638.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.65, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,215,915.50. This represents a 2.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total value of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 423,427 shares of company stock valued at $256,996,450. Corporate insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.