Wick Capital Partners LLC Buys 3,842 Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Wick Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 701.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,390 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,842 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 0.4% of Wick Capital Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Wick Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $2,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth $459,000. Apollon Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 255.9% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,709,694 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $1,001,044,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229,350 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 4.3 %

META traded up $24.81 during trading on Friday, reaching $597.02. The company had a trading volume of 24,702,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,463,475. The company has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business's fifty day moving average price is $576.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $603.54. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $442.65 and a 12 month high of $740.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 37.91% and a return on equity of 38.17%. The company's revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio is 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Susan J. Li sold 8,553 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $736.67, for a total value of $6,300,738.51. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 51,793 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,154,349.31. This represents a 14.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $676.00, for a total value of $279,188.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,449 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,443,524. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 237,017 shares of company stock valued at $167,207,524. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $610.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $615.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $740.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $688.63.

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.