Optimum Investment Advisors Has $3.99 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Optimum Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,821 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Meta Platforms comprises about 1.8% of Optimum Investment Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Optimum Investment Advisors’ holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $3,994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Meredith Wealth Planning raised its position in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Meredith Wealth Planning now owns 1,873 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Maiden Cove Capital LLC now owns 481 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 317 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VeraBank N.A. increased its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 1,954 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $710.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $800.00 price target (up from $725.00) on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Arete Research raised shares of Meta Platforms to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $718.31.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In related news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 5,060 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $3,727,550.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 5,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,747.13. This represents a 49.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 2,311 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.21, for a total value of $1,387,085.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 585,605 shares of company stock valued at $386,710,448. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $619.55 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $655.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $607.11. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.23. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $414.50 and a one year high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The social networking company reported $8.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.75 by $1.27. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.33 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

About Meta Platforms

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.