Grant Private Wealth Management Inc Takes $4.31 Million Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Grant Private Wealth Management Inc acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 7,352 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $4,305,000. Meta Platforms accounts for about 4.6% of Grant Private Wealth Management Inc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,553 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $28,719,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,519 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at $19,949,512,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,251,766 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $8,344,552,000 after buying an additional 424,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,901,521 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $5,211,967,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892,509 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

META has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Meta Platforms from $810.00 to $725.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $680.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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 MarketBeat, Meta Platforms currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $718.55.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 5.1 %

NASDAQ:META traded down $26.89 on Friday, reaching $504.73. The stock had a trading volume of 38,506,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,408,911. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $648.15 and a 200 day moving average of $610.27.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $5.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 4,706 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total transaction of $3,466,769.02. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,935 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,422,186.45. This trade represents a 18.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 905 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $631.55, for a total value of $571,552.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,215,915.50. This trade represents a 2.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 549,113 shares of company stock worth $364,668,246 in the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.