HF Advisory Group LLC Raises Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

HF Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 44.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,307 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 1,951 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for 1.4% of HF Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. HF Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Stockton boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Stockton now owns 4,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $1,819,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Signify Wealth bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $228,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 10,962 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,690 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,008,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $269,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $385.00, for a total transaction of $217,910.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 35,286 shares in the company, valued at $13,585,110. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total transaction of $239,134.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,440,278 shares of company stock worth $684,796,490. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 2.9 %

META stock traded up $14.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $508.29. The company had a trading volume of 4,332,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,902,320. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $207.13 and a 52 week high of $531.49. The company has a market cap of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.17, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $493.65 and a 200 day moving average of $396.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The business’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on META. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $500.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $400.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $518.15.

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.