Apex Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Apex Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,503 shares of the social networking company's stock, valued at approximately $880,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Meta Platforms by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,368,361 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,928,185,000 after purchasing an additional 204,412 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,946,755 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $4,101,602,000 after buying an additional 186,728 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,684 shares of the social networking company's stock valued at $2,157,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Meta Platforms by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 34,862 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $20,412,000 after purchasing an additional 3,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NRI Wealth Management LC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter valued at about $594,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Meta Platforms

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.17, for a total transaction of $502,101.57. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,577 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,488,983.09. This represents a 3.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 55,589 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.72, for a total value of $39,897,337.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 237,017 shares of company stock valued at $167,207,524 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 13.71% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ META opened at $597.02 on Friday. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $442.65 and a 52-week high of $740.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $575.29 and a 200-day moving average of $603.62. 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 (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The business's revenue was up 16.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. Meta Platforms's payout ratio is 8.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on META. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $580.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Argus set a $775.00 target price on Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $696.45.

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.

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