SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,628 shares of the social networking company's stock after buying an additional 1,781 shares during the period. Meta Platforms accounts for approximately 1.4% of SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $13,249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.
In other news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total transaction of $407,167.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.25, for a total transaction of $22,746,973.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 495,682 shares of company stock worth $301,101,199. Insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.
A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $636.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JMP Securities raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $660.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $811.00 price target on shares of Meta Platforms in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $650.05.
Read Our Latest Report on Meta Platforms
Shares of META opened at $617.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.73. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a one year low of $358.61 and a one year high of $638.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $595.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $554.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.19.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $40.21 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 9.42%.
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.
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