Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV Has $4.17 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV decreased its position in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,113 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 170 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.7% of Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $4,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $111,948,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,020,519 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $24,777,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,121 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $23,606,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,949,512,000. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on META. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Meta Platforms from $775.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $627.00 to $525.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $700.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $688.63.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 4.2 %

NASDAQ:META opened at $572.21 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $432.28 and a one year high of $740.91. The company has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $576.50 and a 200-day moving average of $603.54.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.33 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Meta Platforms’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $676.00, for a total transaction of $279,188.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,443,524. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 12,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $706.72, for a total value of $9,169,692.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $121,588,349.12. This represents a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 237,017 shares of company stock worth $167,207,524 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.71% of the company’s stock.

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.