Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Has $241.70 Million Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 412,799 shares of the social networking company’s stock after acquiring an additional 753 shares during the period. Meta Platforms makes up 0.7% of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $241,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in META. JDM Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Meta Platforms in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Avondale Wealth Management bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Meta Platforms during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. 79.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Meta Platforms

In other Meta Platforms news, CAO Aaron Anderson sold 731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.00, for a total value of $407,167.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,414 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,598. This trade represents a 17.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 35,921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $607.97, for a total value of $21,838,890.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,016 shares of company stock valued at $346,031,180 over the last ninety days. 13.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Meta Platforms Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of META stock opened at $647.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.19. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $385.66 and a 1 year high of $652.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $601.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $560.33.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The social networking company reported $6.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.19 by $0.84. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 35.60% and a net margin of 35.55%. The firm had revenue of $40.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.21 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 22.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Meta Platforms from $641.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $654.20.

Meta Platforms Company 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.