Vance Wealth Inc. Has $909,000 Stock Position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Vance Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,569 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Vance Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $909,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of META. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 625.0% during 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. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $31,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 65.2% during 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. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 80.4% during the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on META shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $555.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $535.00 to $480.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Meta Platforms from $590.00 to $565.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $509.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total transaction of $287,381.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Meta Platforms news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 585 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.25, for a total value of $287,381.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,288,255. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Nicholas Clegg sold 2,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total value of $958,392.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,053 shares in the company, valued at $4,757,883.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,349,148 shares of company stock valued at $649,552,559 in the last quarter. 13.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Meta Platforms stock traded up $1.91 during trading on Friday, hitting $443.29. 32,645,619 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,233,678. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $494.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $404.85. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $229.85 and a 1-year high of $531.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.20.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The social networking company reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.32 by $0.39. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 32.06%. The business had revenue of $36.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.28 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.49%.

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.