Astra Wealth Partners LLC Buys Shares of 826 Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Astra Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 826 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $484,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 58,218 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $34,087,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 140,585 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $82,314,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter valued at $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Financial LLC now owns 1,479 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $866,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,675,174 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $3,908,382,000 after acquiring an additional 110,040 shares in the last quarter. 79.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.66, for a total value of $525,577.86. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,261 shares in the company, valued at $17,268,742.26. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 608 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $563.03, for a total transaction of $342,322.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 6,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,507,676.90. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 535,725 shares of company stock valued at $356,391,449. 13.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of META traded up $6.51 on Monday, reaching $511.24. The stock had a trading volume of 21,599,709 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,440,623. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $414.50 and a 12-month high of $740.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $648.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $610.77.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on META shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Meta Platforms from $750.00 to $710.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $688.00 to $765.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a "buy" 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 issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $715.57.

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.