Merit Financial Group LLC Has $62.18 Million Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. $META

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 84,671 shares of the social networking company’s stock after buying an additional 6,264 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $62,181,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 34,551 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $20,230,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd boosted its position in Meta Platforms by 294.7% during the 1st quarter. Headwater Capital Co Ltd now owns 150,000 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $86,454,000 after acquiring an additional 112,000 shares during the period. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Meta Platforms by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 700 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at about $395,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $658.14, for a total transaction of $340,258.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,029,308. The trade was a 4.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert M. Kimmitt sold 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $646.00, for a total value of $374,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,983,882. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,038 shares of company stock worth $25,533,240. 13.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on META. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $925.00 to $815.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Meta Platforms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $920.00 to $880.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Meta Platforms from $900.00 to $875.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $822.22.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:META opened at $658.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50-day moving average of $645.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $704.88. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.80 and a fifty-two week high of $796.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The social networking company reported $7.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.51. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 39.35% and a net margin of 30.89%.The business had revenue of $51.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.28%.

About Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META), formerly Facebook, Inc, is a global technology company best known for building social networking services and immersive computing platforms. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company operates a family of consumer-facing products and services that connect users, creators and businesses. In October 2021 the company rebranded as Meta to reflect an expanded strategic focus on augmented and virtual reality technologies alongside its social media businesses.

Meta’s core consumer products include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, which enable social networking, messaging, content sharing and community building across mobile and desktop devices.