Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 24,603 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 741 shares during the quarter. Meta Platforms comprises 0.8% of Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $8,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 625.0% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 87 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Meta Platforms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 68.9% during the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 65.2% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 109 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on META. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Meta Platforms from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $397.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $465.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $536.00 to $609.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Meta Platforms from $405.00 to $527.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $496.35.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Javier Olivan sold 490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.03, for a total value of $239,134.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 79,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,015,070.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 97,093 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.67, for a total transaction of $45,601,669.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,442,145 shares of company stock valued at $665,553,088 over the last ninety days. 14.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded down $7.13 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $495.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,179,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,088,033. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $459.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $373.07. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $197.90 and a 1-year high of $523.57. The company has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 19.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 13.42%.

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.